Labour’s Emily Thornberry blasted after praising Jeremy Corbyn for ‘always calling out racism’
EMILY Thornberry has been blasted after praising Jeremy Corbyn for “always calling out racism”.
The Labour leadership contender made the comments while speaking at a Holocaust Memorial Day event.
It comes despite Labour facing a series of antisemitism accusations under Mr Corbyn, as well as an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
“And we continue to be reminded, particularly the politicians amongst us, that we've seen it before and I hope we never see it again, that people think they can get votes by playing the race card.
“I know that Jeremy will always call it out and I will always call it out. We are one, we are family."
The comments sparked fury, with Dame Margaret Hodge lashing out at the 59-year-old.
She said: "If it wasn’t so serious, this would be a joke. I think Emily Thornberry needs to reflect on the reality before she makes statements like that."
Ian Austin, a former Labour MP who quit the party over Mr Corbyn's leadership also blasted the claims.
He said: "It’s easy to speak about racism at a Holocaust commemoration.
“But their words would have much more weight if the Labour Party had not been poisoned by racism against Jewish people under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
"He could start to make amends by booting out the racists and apologising for his responsibility for this scandal before he stands down."
Labour members blamed the defeat on gimmick and division
In a review overseen by Ed Miliband, they said:
The free broadband was seen as “gimmicky and distracting.
Labour promotions were given out “based on nothing more than factional loyalty”.
Targeting the elites was seen as “negative”, “aggresive” and “Trumpian”.
The phone system was “down at the start” of the campaign.
The online uploading platform was “clunky”.
Meanwhile fellow leadership contender Sir Keir Starmer announced he would order an update on the issue of anti-semitism among members on "day one" of taking up the role.
He is currently the favourite, with political betting aggregator having him at at 3/10, Rebecca Long-Bailey at 4/1, Lisa Nandy on 11/2 and Ms Thornberry on 100/1.
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