Politics

Jeremy Corbyn was fatally undermined by his advisers, says Emily Thornberry



Emily Thornberry has attacked Jeremy Corbyn’s advisers saying they “undermined him” during the general election campaign. 

The shadow foreign secretary said the Labour leader had been “badly let down” and the party now needed “clear strategic thinking”. 

Ms Thornberry on Wednesday became the first Labour MP to officially announce she was running  to replace Mr Corbyn. 

Asked why she was kept off the airways during the campaign, Ms Thornberry said: “I think that Jeremy has been badly advised.”


Jeremy Corbyn (R) and Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry (Getty Images)

She continued: “I think there have been times when we have made decisions and that hasn’t been what has been briefed out to the media.

“That has undermined him, and drained away, I think too often, his authenticity, which was something which was so important and resonated so much with people in 2017.

“And I think that there have been a number of mistakes made between 2017 and 2019 that undermined him so fundamentally.”

She pointed to the Salisbury Novichok poisonings when she claimed Mr Corbyn had said one thing in Parliament “then a different spin was put on it when briefed afterwards. That undermined him.”

Ms Thornberry said junior staff were now being made redundant while those who “made the very decisions about the general election don’t seem to be under threat”.

Pressed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme over who she was referring to, she replied: “I’m not naming anyone. People know who it is that I’m talking about.”

Labour’s Emily Thornberry (Daniel Hambury)

Labour Party staff are reportedly angry that they face losing their jobs while Mr Corbyn’s senior aides Seumas Milne and Karie Murphy have remained on the payroll.

Meanwhile, party staff are understood to have discussed going on strike unless Mr Milne and Ms Murphy are removed from their posts, according to the Guardian. 

Announcing her leadership pitch, Ms Thornberry said she had warned the Labour leadership that backing a Brexit election would be an “act of catastrophic political folly”.

Asked if Mr Corbyn or his advisers had ignored her warning she said: “I think that it’s well known that there were arguments in the leadership about what the best way to go forward was on Brexit.”

She also said not dealing with anti-Semitism was “horrific” and a “shame on our party”.



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