Emily Thornberry

Infobox MP


honorific-prefix =
name = Emily Thornberry
honorific-suffix = MP
constituency_MP = Islington South and Finsbury
parliament =
majority = 484 (1.6%)
predecessor = Chris Smith
successor = Incumbent
term_start = 5 May 2005
term_end =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1960|07|27|df=yes
birth_place = Guildford, Surrey
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = British
spouse = Christopher Nugee
party = Labour
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater = University of Kent
occupation =
profession =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Emily Anne Thornberry (born 27 July 1960, Guildford) is a British Labour Party politician. She has been Member of Parliament for Islington South and Finsbury since 2005.

Before Parliament

Thornberry was educated at Burlington School and Burlington-Danes School then at the University of Kent at Canterbury where she studied [http://www.kent.ac.uk/law Law] , and practised as a barrister specialising in human rights from 1985 to 2005 in Tooks Chambers, run by Michael Mansfield.cite web
url=http://www.tooks.co.uk/chambers/news/05051243.htm
publisher=Tooks Chambers
title=Emily Thornberry elected as MP
date=May 12 2005
accessdate=April 18
accessyear=2007]

Parliamentary career

In the 2001 general election she stood for Parliament in Canterbury and at the 2005 general election was elected as Member of Parliament for Islington South & Finsbury.Fact|date=April 2008

In Parliament Emily has been a member of the Environmental Audit Committee and is currently on the Communities & Local Government select committee. She is also chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group and vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentarty Pro-Choice and Sexual Health Group.

Controversy

Housing

During the course of a campaign run by Ms Thornberry on the subject of social housing, the Islington Tribune, a local newspaper, discovered her husband had bought ex-social housing stock [ [http://www.thecnj.co.uk/islington/2007/083107/news083107_02.html Islington Tribune, 31 August 2007] ] . This property is now rented out to Ms Thornberry's staff, which has led to accusations of hypocrisy from her local opposition.

Electoral Commission

The Parliament's standards watchdog has said Thornberry was "unwise" to insert a quote from herself into an Electoral Commission press release. Sir Philip Mawer revealed in his annual report http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmcomstan/1012/1012.pdf] Thornberry e-mailed the doctored press release on to the media as if it were an official release.

The case arose after she inserted a quote into an Electoral Commission press release; the Commission was urging voters to register to vote. Emily Thornberry added a quote about Islington, confusing the borough's registration form response rate of 65% with its voter registration level of 90%. The implication was that Islington was not bothering to register voters. As the Select Committee http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmstnprv/1367/1367.pdf] heard last year, "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."

The facts of the matter were not disputed. The Commissioner accepted that Ms 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. However he described her actions in amending and distributing the news release in a form which appeared to be an Electoral Commission document, as unwise and potentially misleading, and said they were not to be condoned. Nevertheless, as she had not intended to deceive or manipulate the public, the Commissioner found that Thornberry had not breached the breached the Parliamentary Code of Conduct. The House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges agreed with the Commissioner's findings. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7062530.stm BBC NEWS | Politics | MP 'unwise' to alter news release ] ]

Communications Workers Union

Thornberry was also criticised for receiving funding from the Communications Workers Union at the time of the unpopular postal strike in October 2007. Recent political propaganda sent out by Thornberry bore the mark of the franking machine of the Communications Workers Union in London SW19, miles from her Constituency.Fact|date=April 2008 At that time she also asked a question in Parliament to the Prime Minister urging him to "enter into meaningful discussions with the Communication Workers Union and thus ensure that the jobs and the good pay and conditions of Royal Mail employees... are protected" [ [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2007-07-25b.830.2&s=speaker%3A11656#g837.1] Hansard, Wednesday, 25 July 2007] , leading the newspaper Private Eye to accuse her of taking "cash for questions" [Private Eye Magazine, October 24 2007] .

Letter to George W. Bush

According to the Islington Gazette Thornberry wrote a letter to United States President George W. Bush, demanding the release of Guantanamo captive Ahmed Rashidi, a former resident of her constituency.cite news
url=http://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/content/islington/gazette/news/story.aspx?brand=ISLGOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsislg&itemid=WeED18%20Apr%202007%2011%3A16%3A07%3A210
title='Innocent' Guantanamo prisoner could be freed
author=[e-mail]
date= April 18 2007
publisher=Islington Gazette
accessdate=2007-04-18] The article quotes Thornberry:

:"Guantanamo Bay is an affront to international law. While Ahmed Errachidi has been in Guantanamo he has been subject to appalling abuse and has suffered at least one severe mental breakdown. He should never have been in Guantanamo Bay and he certainly shouldn't be there for a moment longer.

:"It's completely unacceptable that Ahmed should be left in limbo like this, while the international community wrings its hands about the detainees the US no longer wants.

Emily's main interests as a parliamentarian have been in housing, the environment, and equality issues. 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.

The media reaction to this statement led the MP to fear for her political career, and to insist to the local press that she had her party's support [ [http://www.thecnj.co.uk/islington/2008/030708/inews030708_10.html Islington Tribune, 7 March 2008] ] .

Personal life

She has lived in Islington since the early 1990s. She has two sons (born December 1991 and July 1999) and a daughter (born October 1993). She married [http://www.wilberforce.co.uk/profile_ChristopherNugee.html?area=barristers Christopher Nugee] QC in July 1991 in the borough of Tower Hamlets. He is a Deputy High Court judge, and they live in Barnsbury.

By coincidence she has lived on "Richmond Crescent", where Tony Blair lived until the 1997 general election, since 1993, moving in on the same day that the Blairs moved in.Islington Tribune, 5th September 2005, p. 3.]

References

External links

* [http://www.emilythornberry.com Her website]
* [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/emily_thornberry/islington_south_and_finsbury They Work For You]
* [http://www.islingtonlabour.org.uk Islington South & Finsbury Labour Party]
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,,-7384,00.html Ask Aristotle]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/341.stm BBC Politics page]

Audio clips

* [http://www.wpradio.co.uk/mp3s/EmilyThornberryMPinterview.mp3 Women's Parliamentary Radio] Online audio interview discussing her life as a female MP

News items

* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/1996685/Politics-Could-Islington-be-the-home-of-the-two-mother-family.html Defending two mother families in May 2008]