Emily Thornberry

Emily Thornberry MP
Shadow Health Minister
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 October 2010
Leader	Harriet Harman Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Charles Hendry
Member of Parliament for Islington South and Finsbury
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 May 2005
Preceded by	Chris Smith
Majority	3,569 (8.2%)
Personal details
Born	(1960-07-27) 27 July 1960 Surrey, England
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Christopher Nugee
Relations	Cedric Thornberry
Children	2 sons, 1 daughter
Residence	Islington
Alma mater	University of Kent
Website	Emily Thornberry's Website

Emily Anne 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 2005.

Before Parliament

Thornberry was born in North Surrey to a London School of Economics Law Professor Cedric Thornberry and his wife who was a teacher. Her parents divorced when Thornberry was aged seven and she and her two brothers lived with her mother who later became a Labour councillor and Mayor. Her father went on to become United Nations assistant Secretary General and work for NATO. She was educated at the University of Kent at Canterbury where she studied law, and practised as a barrister specialising in human rights from 1985 to 2005 in Tooks Chambers, run by Michael Mansfield. Thornberry joined the Transport and General Workers Union in 1985.

Parliamentary career

In the 2001 general election she stood for Parliament in Canterbury, being defeated by the Conservative incumbent, Julian Brazier.

Following the retirement of Chris Smith (now Lord Smith), Thornberry was selected as the Labour candidate for the Islington South and Finsbury at the 2005 general election through a controversial All-Women Shortlist She was elected with a much reduced majority of 484 as a result of a large swing to the Liberal Democrats. Nick Smith, who later became a fellow MP, was her election agent.

She made her maiden speech to Parliament on 24 May 2005. She has been a member of the Environmental Audit Committee and was on the Communities & Local Government select committee in the 2005-10 parliament. She is vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group and the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Choice and Sexual Health Group.

Thornberry's main interests as a parliamentarian have been in housing, the environment, and equality. Since being elected, she has spoken many times on the need for more affordable housing, particularly in Islington. In 2006, Thornberry introduced the Housing Association Bill - a private member's Bill which sought to improve the control of housing association residents over their landlords. Many of the ideas from this Bill were taken up by the Cave Review. On the environment, Thornberry has worked with Friends of the Earth and WWF on campaigns for a Climate Change Bill and a Marine Bill. In 2006, Thornberry won the epolitix.com award for Environment Champion of the Year after being nominated by WWF.

In 2008, she helped to organise the votes of progressive MPs in the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Bill. In the Commons, she spoke to defend the right of lesbian mothers to access IVF treatment, and was criticised by other MPs including Conservative MP Sir Patrick Cormack and DUP member Iris Robinson. Following her intervention, she was nominated for Stonewall Politician of the Year 2008.

In March 2008, Thornberry claimed that almost every child in Islington had been mugged at some stage. This was denied by the Metropolitan Police as 'speculation', pointing out that out of a borough population of 180,000, only 750 people under 18 had reported being the victims of mugging in 2007. However, the comments were seen as a hindrance to Labour London mayor Ken Livingstone's re-election campaign.

Though normally voting with the whip, Thornberry has voted against the Government on national security matters, regarding the detention of terror suspects without charge for 90 days in the Terrorism Act 2006, on the same matter for 42 days in the Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008, and against the renewal of Trident.

In July 2010 she was elected National Chair of the Labour Friends of Italy, an organisation of Labour members of Italian origins and roots affiliated to the Labour party.

Thornberry was unsuccessful in Labour's shadow cabinet elections held in October 2010. Instead she was given a role as a shadow health minister, working under Shadow Health Secretary John Healey.

Controversies

Social housing campaign

During the course of a campaign run by Thornberry on the subject of social housing, the Islington Tribune, a local newspaper, discovered her husband had bought ex-social housing stock for over half a million pounds and receives rental income from the property. It also emerged that the new residents are Labour Party activists. Councillor Terry Stacy was highly critical, stating “Thornberry has tried to make a name for herself by opposing Islington’s policies on affordable housing. This is nothing less than hypocrisy.”

Electoral Commission complaint

In 2006, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Sir Philip Mawer, received a complaint from Steve Hitchens, then-leader of Islington Council, that Ms Thornberry had "altered an electronic copy of an Electoral Commission news release by inserting a quotation from herself". The complaint centred on a quote from Ms Thornberry which said "Its extremely worrying that only 67% have registered for Islington’s May Council elections", which Mr Hitchens saw as confusing the electoral registration response rate with the registration rate itself.

During the investigation, the Committee on Standards and Privileges heard that "the Electoral Commission does not think it acceptable that Ms Thornberry changed its press release without its permission. It believes that the quote inserted by Ms Thornberry was both politically contentious and misleading." However, the Commissioner accepted that Thornberry's primary motive was to act in the public interest by supporting the Electoral Commission’s campaign to improve response rates, and consequently levels of voter registration. He found her actions to have been "unwise and unfortunate" but that "there was no intention on her part to deceive or manipulate the public, nor had that been the effect of her actions", and the Committee agreed with his findings.

Personal life

Thornberry has lived in Islington since the early 1990s. She has two sons (born December 1991 and July 1999) and a daughter (born November 1993). She married Christopher Nugee QC of Wilberforce Chambers in July 1991 in the borough of Tower Hamlets. He is a deputy High Court judge, and they live in Barnsbury. Since 1993 she has lived on Richmond Crescent, where Tony Blair lived until the 1997 general election, moving in on the same day that the Blairs moved in. She also part owns properties in Guildford and South London.

In April 2005 it emerged that Thornberry had sent her son to the selective Dame Alice Owen's School 14 miles away from her home and outside her constituency. The Labour Party opposes selection and Thornberry was widely criticised over the issue as a result. Chris Woodhead, the former chief inspector of schools stated "I celebrate her good sense as a parent and deplore her hypocrisy as a politician. When will those who espouse the virtues of comprehensive education apply the logic of their political message to their children." The controversy had strong echoes of the cases of Harriet Harman, Tony Blair and Diane Abbott. Thornberry's daughter now also attends the school. She defender her position by stating she felt the school should not have moved from its original location.

External links

• They Work For You
• Islington South & Finsbury Labour Party
• Ask Aristotle
• BBC Politics page

Audio clips

• Women's Parliamentary Radio Online audio interview discussing her life as a female MP

News items

• Defending two mother families in May 2008