Emily Thornberry

Emily Anne Thornberry (born 27 July 1960) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington South and Finsbury since 2005. A member of the Labour Party, she has served as Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales since 2021, and previously from 2011 to 2014. She has also served as Shadow Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2020, Shadow First Secretary of State from 2017 to 2020 and Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade from 2020 to 2021.

Thornberry in 2020

Quotes

2016

• Yesterday’s motion gave us the opportunity to send the opposite message to the world … that, while Saudi Arabia will remain a valued strategic, security and economic ally in the years to come, our support for their forces in Yemen must be suspended until the alleged violations of international humanitarian law in that conflict have been fully and independently investigated. And until the children of Yemen have received the humanitarian aid that they so desperately need.
  • Said after dozens of Labour MPs were absent for a vote on withdrawing UK aid from Saudi Arabia's war on Yemen. Quoted by the Guardian. Labour MPs face backlash over failure to vote on Yemen campaign (27 October 2016)

• The communities who stand to lose out most from Brexit must be looked after first,
  • Labour will 'replace post-Brexit EU funding' in UK BBC News (26 September 2016)

• We cannot turn the clock back and run the Brexit vote again. We have been given our instructions by the British people and we must act on them.
  • Labour will 'replace post-Brexit EU funding' in UK BBC News (26 September 2016)

2017

• We need to leave the European Union but it is good for our economy - they're our biggest market - that we stay as close as we can
  • Brexit: 'No deal' planning is well under way, says minister BBC News (8 October 2017)

2018

• We have to negotiate a new agreement. That, we think, is likely to be a customs union that will look pretty much like the current customs union.
  • Labour and customs union: Evolution not revolution BBC News (22 February 2018)

• [A new agreement is needed] that we think is likely to be a customs union that will look pretty much like the current customs union.
  • Ministers conclude crunch Brexit talks at Chequers BBC News (23 February 2018)

• I think anybody who has looked into this issue has seen that it is quite clear that there is no other place that we can go than to remain in a customs union with the European Union - nothing else makes sense.
  • Brexit: Morgan calls for 'rational debate' on UK's customs plans BBC News (22 April 2018)

• Britain has disappeared into the Brexit black hole
  • Quoted by IFOREX. GBPUSD slid on never-ending Brexit/UK political saga and Trump's China tax "trial-balloon" (14 September 2018)

2019

• It is quite clear that the government of Venezuela is, on the face of it, responsible for human rights abuses and it does not have a plan to get themselves out of the situation they are currently in.
  • Quoted by the BBC. Emily Thornberry: Labour 'supports pressure' on Venezuela (6 February 2019)

• [Under a Labour government, there would be] no indulgence of human rights abuses because they are committed by less powerful countries, or by countries who call themselves 'socialist' but who, by their actions, betray every socialist ideal.
  • Emily Thornberry: Labour 'supports pressure' on Venezuela BBC News (6 February 2019)

• We've got to a stage where we feel that any deal is so controversial and may well be so far from what people voted for when they voted to leave, that we think that it is probably appropriate… that we say to the people, 'Is this what you wanted?' We just want to check. Because if it isn't, then let's stay.
  • 2019 European elections: Labour MPs push for referendum pledge BBC News (26 April 2019)

• Frankly, it’s a shame and a disgrace that the Equality and Human Rights Commission have been brought in to look at the Labour party, but they have. And I think we should now welcome it, open our doors up and say to them, right we have been trying to improve our processes, clearly it’s still not working, can you help us?
  • Said after the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) was asked to form an independent inquiry in regards allegations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. Quoted by The Guardian. End the antisemitism soap opera, Emily Thornberry tells Labour (14 July 2019)

• Are we going to celebrate a Labour version of Brexit? No. We must have the Labour Party this week saying no to Brexit and we must lead the campaign to remain.
  • Jeremy Corbyn faces calls to resolve Labour Brexit divisions BBC News (22 September 2019)

• [Labour must] lead the campaign to remain
  • News Daily: Thomas Cook collapse and Labour Brexit row BBC News (23 September 2019)

• Let's be clear: this was always going to be the Brexit election, the first genuine single-issue election in 119 years. Back then, in 1900, the Tories were cynically capitalising on their early success in the Boer war to try to win another thumping majority over the Liberals. It was also Labour's very first election, and we went into it with noble domestic ambitions far distant from the South African veldt.
• And if you're a Labour voter seized with gloom – or a Tory gleaming with complacency – just remember that in 1906, six years after the last single-issue election, the Liberal opposition won a majority of 124, with the Tories losing 246 seats. Why? Because the Tories were totally divided over trade policy and because their "single issue" of the Boer war had turned into a disaster.
  Will history repeat itself now as the Tories grapple with the reality of "getting Brexit done"? Well, history has a tendency to do that.
  • "Labour gifted Boris Johnson his ‘Brexit election’. We can’t be so inept again", The Guardian (18 December 2019).
  • In the 2019 United Kingdom general election, the Labour Party had its worst result (in terms of the number of seats in the House of Commons) since the 1935 general election.

Quotes about Thornberry

• The Labour Party hate the concept of Englishness. They have done for a very long time. New Labour can't even stand the concept of patriotism. They think the flag somehow is unpleasant, backward-looking and nasty. People like Emily Thornberry would rather we had that blue flag with 12 stars on it that comes to us from Brussels.
  • Nigel Farage, "Miliband: Thornberry's 'white van, flag' tweet lacked respect", BBC News (21 November 2014)