The Sun says Lib Dems are set to oust Emily Thornberry

Image from #Islington

From the Sun:

[Emily] Thornberry is trailing behind the Lib Dems in her north London seat of Islington South and Finsbury.

A senior Labour source said local internal polling conducted by the party found that Mr Corbyn’s chaotic Brexit policy has led the constituency's voters to switch to the Lib Dems due to their unequivocal pledge to reverse the 2016 referendum result.

This may sound fanciful, given that Thornberry had a majority of more than 20,000 over the Conservatives, with the Liberal Democrats further back in third place. But in 2005 we came within 500 votes of winning this seat.

Then it was the Iraq war that separated many Labour voters from their traditional loyalties.

It looks as though the party's failure to oppose Brexit has done the same thing.

Emily Thornberry and the Taliban: It's all my fault

Embed from Getty Images

The Daily Mirror tells us that

Jo Swinson has hit back at Labour's Emily Thornberry after she branded the Lib Dems 'kind of Taliban' over their Brexit policy.

And the Liberal Democrats have been united in their outrage.

Trouble is, I have had a nagging feeling all day that it may be my fault.

Because this is how I began my Lib Dem Conference diary for the Guardian website back in 2001:

Fierce, bearded and wedded to an impenetrable ideology. Not a description of the Taliban, but the average commentator's view of the Liberal Democrats.

Clearly, I am the one who put the idea into what we may loosely call Thornberry's mind.

Searching this blog I find that Rory Stewart - AKA Lawrence of Belgravia - made the same comparison in 2010 in the course of a Westminster lecture.

Steve Benbow and Tommy Eytle

My programme for Cinderella, the 1966 Christmas Panto at the Palace Theatre, Watford, had advertisements too.

Shortly after it arrived I tweeted this one with the words "#Watford nightlife 1966 style".

That turned out to be rather Emily Thornberry tweet, because Steve Benbow (1931-2006) and Tommy Eytle (1926-2007) were both considerable figures.

Benbow's Guardian obituary said he was:

an inspiration to younger players. Davy Graham, whose guitar style affected those of Eric Clapton and Paul Simon, credits him as a primary influence: Benbow introduced him to Moroccan music he had heard while in the forces. Graham told the Guardian last year: "What he taught me was that you should never get stuck in one mode or style."

Eytle's Guardian obituary records that he:

played various society venues such as Esmeralda's Barn, a haunt of the Knightsbridge smart set, eventually taken over by the Krays. His irrepressible act was caught on film in two sequences from The Tommy Steele Story (1957) - with double bassist Chris O'Brien in a Caribbean setting, then fronting his own band on the London stage.

He late turned to acting and was best known for playing Jules Tavernier in EastEnders.

His older brother, Ernest Eytle, was the first West Indian summariser to broadcast on their tests in England for the BBC. They were both friends of Ken 'Snakehips' Johnson.

Former Harborough councillor becomes shadow attorney general

The resignation of Emily Thornberry meant that Labour needed a new shadow attorney general.

And the choice has fallen upon Lord Bach who, as Willy Bach, once represented one of the Lutterworth wards on Harborough District Council. (This was after my days on the authority.)

BBC News has the other changes in today's minor shadow cabinet reshuffle.

Nick Clegg declares war on Islington

On Call Clegg today, reports the Daily Telegraph, the Liberal Democrat leader waded in to the controversy over Emily Thornberry and her photograph:

“I just think it was a drippingly patronising thing to do by Emily Thornberry. 

“Maybe that’s what happens if you become MP for Islington. 

“I just thought it was a jaw-droppingly condescending way of treating someone who just proudly hanging some flags outside their home.”

A bit over the top, you may think. Nick, after all, chooses to live in the edgy urban jungle that is Putney.

His remarks certainly surprised Terry Stacy, who will be standing against Thornberry in her Islington South and Finsbury next year. He told the Huffington Post:

"I don't know what is behind that comment," he told The Huffington Post. "I have no idea where he was coming from. It may have been a slide-by comment, I am a bit surprised." 

Stacy, who was leader of Islington council between 2008 and 2010, insisted that, unlike Thornberry, he was in touch with the seat's poorer constituents. 

"You can't get more working class than me," he said. "I still live in social housing. I was probably the only council leader that did live in social housing in Islington over last 30-years."

It used to be Hampstead that was known for being the home of rich socialists, but at some point that doubtful honour was passed to Islington.

It is a silly stereotype - I have been guilty of relying upon it myself in at least one column - because much of Islington is not like that at all.

The Huffington Post reminds us that the borough has child poverty rates higher than anywhere else in the country.

I don't suppose Nick comments were based on deep political calculation, but they can be seen as a reflection of the fact that Islington South is a seat that we had real hopes of winning in 2010 and have no hope of winning in 2015.

If this bias against Islington, justified or not, has any long-term effect it is likely to be in scuppering Margaret Hodge's chances of being Labour's candidate for Mayor of London.

So there is something to be said for being unfair about Islington.

Now the BBC does name Emily Thornberry

On Friday I complained that the BBC had failed to name Emily Thornberry (Lab, Islington South) as the MP whose action were described by Sir Philip Mawer, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, as "unwise and unfortunate".

That post was read by a lot of people thanks to Iain Dale and, in particular, Biased BBC. Yesterday it had visitors from the BBC itself.

Now the report does name Emily Thornberry and has this footnote:

Earlier versions of this story did not include the name of the MP as it was a straight report from Sir Philip's report in which she was not named. We added the name, and some extra background, once we became aware of her identity.

I think I can fairly claim victory here. But I am still amazed at the original report. It took me a few seconds with Google to find out that Thornberry was the MP involved. What does the BBC employ journalists for?

Thanks to James Graham for noticing the change.

Why doesn't the BBC name Emily Thornberry?

From the BBC website:

Parliament's standards watchdog has said an MP who inserted a quote from herself into an Electoral Commission press release had been "unwise".

Sir Philip Mawer revealed in his annual report the unnamed MP then e-mailed the doctored press release on to the media as if it were an official release.

He said her action had not breached the code of conduct as there had been "no intention... to deceive the public".

However, he said, the MP's actions had been "unwise and unfortunate".

The MP may be unnamed in Sir Philip's report, but a Google search soon reveals that she is Labour's Emily Thornberry from Islington South and Finsbury.

It also reveals that her conduct was the subject of a report by the House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges.

Why is the BBC so coy?

Islington Labour MP embarrassed over house purchase

I missed a good posting from Andy Mayer earlier in the week.

It seems that the Islington Labour Party has been campaigning against the Lib Dem council for selling off some houses to finance the building of the first new council properties in the borough for 25 years.

Now one of those houses has been bought by the husband of Emily Thornberry, who is one of Islington's Labour MPs.

There is more in the Islington Tribune and on the Islington Working Class Association site.

House Points: Kennedy had to go

Here is my House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News.

Too loyal, too long

The Tory press says that we Liberal Democrat members are furious at the way Charles Kennedy was forced to stand down. I am not convinced that we are.

It is becoming clear that Charles was determined to stay as leader when he was no longer able to the job to the maximum of his ability. It is also clear that he rejected every chance to leave with dignity. In those circumstances it is hard to see how things could have ended happily.

Far from being disloyal, I think that when Lib Dem MPs look back on this episode they will feel that the root of the trouble was that they were too loyal for too long.

The Tory papers also say that we are about to tear ourselves apart. We are not. A civilised debate about our strategy, with some of the more impressive people in the party getting plenty of media coverage, is just what we need.

* * * * *

“People mutht be amuthed,” said Mr Sleary the circus proprietor in Hard Times. But circuses are out of fashion and some think the new Animal Welfare Bill will do for them altogether.

You can have them without animals, but then they consist entirely of pretentious theatre students with whiteface make up. And no one wants that.

Westminster has much in common with a circus: the colour, the pageantry, the smells. Maybe it has even replaced it.

Ann Widdecombe spoke about cruelty in circuses during the Second Reading debate. In another era she would have been dragged from village to village in a cage to be exhibited while urchins poked stick through the bars.

But Tuesday also saw another curiosity: Emily Thornberry. In an intervention the member for Islington South and Finsbury expressed the view that “to take away a dog’s tail … is like taking away its smile”.

She then took up her rope and skipped from the chamber, her mop of curls bobbing.. Hardened Labour and Tory members wept and fell into one another’s arms. And the speaker gruffly declared the bill passed to applause from the galleries.

Many believe docking tails is cruel. Others say it is a necessity for some working breeds. Whoever is right, you don’t help the debate by impersonating Shirley Temple.