Emily Thornberry
 Emily Thornberry      (Lawyer, Politician) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | Emily Anne Thornberry 27 July 1960 Surrey, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Kent University | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 1 daughter 2 sons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Christopher Nugee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of | Labour Friends of Israel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Labour | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Emily Thornberry (born 27 July 1960) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington South and Finsbury since the 2005 General Election and is currently Shadow Foreign Secretary in Jeremy Corbyn's team.
On 11 October 2016, in a House of Commons emergency debate on the situation in Syria, Emily Thornberry accused Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson of hypocrisy and of preferring “brinkmanship” to “statesmanship”. She told her fellow MPs that it was inadmissible that the government expressed concern over the Syrian civilians trapped in the five-year war, while it continued selling arms to allies in the region:
- “If we say those things about Russia and Aleppo we must be prepared for what they say about Saudi Arabia and Yemen. We cannot condemn one and continue selling arms to the other, we cannot call for investigations into one and say to the other that we are happy for them to investigate themselves. We cannot pour scorn on the assurances of one that they have not hit civilian targets while blithely accepting the assurances of the other. Most of all, Mr Speaker, we cannot cry for the people of Aleppo and the suffering they face while turning a blind eye to the million children in Yemen facing starvation.”
The Shadow Foreign Secretary also challenged the government on its eagerness to intervene in the war in Syria, standing firmly against an unenforcable no-fly zone and arguing for “more statesmanship and less brinkmanship.”[1]
Background
Thornberry was born in Surrey, the daughter of Sallie and Cedric Thornberry. She studied law at the University of Kent before practising as a barrister from 1985 to 2005, specialising in human rights law under the guidance of Michael Mansfield.
Parliament
She was first elected to Parliament in 2005, serving on the Communities and Local Government Select Committee from 2005 to 2010. In the 2005–2010 Parliament, she spoke out on both housing issues and issues relating to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, as well as voting against the whip on issues relating to national security on several occasions.
Thornberry was re-elected in the 2010 General Election, and appointed Shadow Attorney General in Ed Miliband's team, serving until she resigned on 20 November 2014 after sending a tweet that some perceived as snobbish.[2] She was again re-elected in the 2015 General Election. After Jeremy Corbyn won the 2015 Labour leadership election on 12 September, Thornberry was appointed Shadow Minister of State for Employment. In a shadow cabinet reshuffle in January 2016, she became Shadow Defence Secretary, replacing Maria Eagle.[3] in June 2016, she was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in another reshuffle.[4]
Shadow Foreign Secretary
On 30 June 2016, when Shami Chakrabarti's report into alleged antisemitism in the Labour party was published and Jeremy Corbyn's comments at the press conference were misconstrued by the commercially-controlled media, Emily Thornberry phoned the Israeli Ambassador Mark Regev to apologise. Corbyn had said:
- "Our Jewish friends are no more responsible for the actions of Israel or the Netanyahu government than our Muslim friends are for those various self-styled Islamic states or organisations."
When later asked if he was comparing Israel to Islamic State, Corbyn said:
- "No, no of course I'm not. The point in the report is that you shouldn't say to somebody just because they're Jewish, you must have an opinion on Israel. Any more than you say to anyone who is a Muslim you must have an opinion on any vile action that's been taken by misquoting the good name of Islam. I just ask people to be respectful and inclusive in their debate."
A source close to Emily Thornberry said Ambassador Regev "had no issue with the speech."[5]
Event Participated in
| Event | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| UK/Parliament/Voted YES to vaccine passports in 2021 | UK/House of Commons | These members of the UK Parliament voted YES to the introduction of a "vaccine" passport in 2021 |
References
- ↑ "Shadow Foreign Sec Thornberry condemns hypocrisy of govt figures pushing for Syria intervention"
- ↑
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