Extracts from the Guardian account of "Thornberry-gate"
Below are some quotes from the Guardian about the Emily Thornberry tweet issue.
A number of people who saw the tweet out of context would have been baffled by the fuss, because the tweet itself did not have anything rude about the house of its' owner. The row has been entirely about what people assume was meant by bothering to tweet the picture.
Hence the reason I am quoting Labour figures as reported in the Guardian is that the reaction of those on the left who are angry about what they think the tweet said about their own side is what best demonstrates why there was an issue.
Here are some examples from this weekend's report on the Guardian website about Labour's, quote "Civil war" on the issue ...
"Labour has erupted into civil war over the “snobby” tweet sent by the sacked shadow attorney general, prompting senior MPs to warn that Ed Miliband’s chances in the general election are being actively damaged by the fallout over the affair."
"The party descended into mutual recrimination as supporters and critics of Emily Thornberry, accused of mocking a house draped with England flags before the Rochester and Strood byelection, took turns to attack each other."
"Former minister Frank Field said Thornberry’s actions would be “deadly” for MPs campaigning on the doorstep, while the chairman of her constituency turned his vitriol on MPs who had attacked her in the 48 hours since she tweeted a photograph of a house with a white van outside it captioned “Image from #Rochester”.
"In a pointed criticism of Miliband’s strategy chief, Lucy Powell MP, who had described Thornberry’s tweet as a “very disrespectful and rude picture”, Ian McLaughlin, chair of the Islington South and Finsbury Labour party, said: “I have to say I deplore the actions of some Labour MPs in attacking her."
"On Saturday night, in a sign of the growing concern at the top of the party about the affair, one shadow cabinet member told the Observer: “The issue is already echoing back at us on the doorsteps.”
"At all levels, there was despair that the furore had turned the spotlight on to Labour’s difficulties as a time when the party had hoped to take advantage of the Tories’ second byelection loss at the hands of UKIP.
"Friends of Thornberry admit that she made a mistake and has been left devastated by events. But they said that Thornberry, who was the first MP to nominate Miliband for the party leadership in 2010, was surprised that her private conversations with the Labour leader in the wake of her tweet had been leaked to the press.
"It was reported on Saturday that Thornberry had been sacked by Miliband after she initially refused to apologise. Thornberry declined to comment. It is understood she still hopes to play a role in a Labour government.
"Some MPs have spoken of their frustration at the handling of the affair by the leadership, in a further sign of disquiet over Miliband just three weeks after 20 shadow ministers were said to be ready to oust their leader if former home secretary Alan Johnson was willing to step in.
"Austin Mitchell, Labour MP for Great Grimsby, told the Observer: “The leader and his aides are running around in small circles panicking about Twitter. It has been blown out of all proportion. Why did Ed Miliband need to put it out that he was extremely angry? He should have ignored it all and it would have blown away.”
"Diane Abbott, a former shadow minister who has been steadfastly loyal to Miliband despite being sacked last October, said: “I think that by sacking her Ed Miliband made the story bigger. I also know that Emily is one of Ed Miliband’s closest and most trusted supporters. As far as I know she is one of very few people in the shadow cabinet who is one of Ed Miliband’s people. It was very ill-advised to let her go.”
"A senior Labour MP, who is not a supporter of Miliband’s leadership, added: “Anyone who thinks that Ed Miliband didn’t need to sack her needs their head examining. I am sure people in London believe he overreacted but I would say that they need to leave London and meet some ordinary people.”
"Frank Field, Labour MP for Birkenhead, said: “This is more damaging than the millions of pounds donated by the businessman Paul Sykes to Ukip. There is a cool anger out there. People will say they despise us for this, that it is an example of how we don’t understand them. It is deadly for us, and this makes it massively more difficult to win the next election”.
A number of people who saw the tweet out of context would have been baffled by the fuss, because the tweet itself did not have anything rude about the house of its' owner. The row has been entirely about what people assume was meant by bothering to tweet the picture.
Hence the reason I am quoting Labour figures as reported in the Guardian is that the reaction of those on the left who are angry about what they think the tweet said about their own side is what best demonstrates why there was an issue.
Here are some examples from this weekend's report on the Guardian website about Labour's, quote "Civil war" on the issue ...
"Labour has erupted into civil war over the “snobby” tweet sent by the sacked shadow attorney general, prompting senior MPs to warn that Ed Miliband’s chances in the general election are being actively damaged by the fallout over the affair."
"The party descended into mutual recrimination as supporters and critics of Emily Thornberry, accused of mocking a house draped with England flags before the Rochester and Strood byelection, took turns to attack each other."
"Former minister Frank Field said Thornberry’s actions would be “deadly” for MPs campaigning on the doorstep, while the chairman of her constituency turned his vitriol on MPs who had attacked her in the 48 hours since she tweeted a photograph of a house with a white van outside it captioned “Image from #Rochester”.
"In a pointed criticism of Miliband’s strategy chief, Lucy Powell MP, who had described Thornberry’s tweet as a “very disrespectful and rude picture”, Ian McLaughlin, chair of the Islington South and Finsbury Labour party, said: “I have to say I deplore the actions of some Labour MPs in attacking her."
"On Saturday night, in a sign of the growing concern at the top of the party about the affair, one shadow cabinet member told the Observer: “The issue is already echoing back at us on the doorsteps.”
"At all levels, there was despair that the furore had turned the spotlight on to Labour’s difficulties as a time when the party had hoped to take advantage of the Tories’ second byelection loss at the hands of UKIP.
"Friends of Thornberry admit that she made a mistake and has been left devastated by events. But they said that Thornberry, who was the first MP to nominate Miliband for the party leadership in 2010, was surprised that her private conversations with the Labour leader in the wake of her tweet had been leaked to the press.
"It was reported on Saturday that Thornberry had been sacked by Miliband after she initially refused to apologise. Thornberry declined to comment. It is understood she still hopes to play a role in a Labour government.
"Some MPs have spoken of their frustration at the handling of the affair by the leadership, in a further sign of disquiet over Miliband just three weeks after 20 shadow ministers were said to be ready to oust their leader if former home secretary Alan Johnson was willing to step in.
"Austin Mitchell, Labour MP for Great Grimsby, told the Observer: “The leader and his aides are running around in small circles panicking about Twitter. It has been blown out of all proportion. Why did Ed Miliband need to put it out that he was extremely angry? He should have ignored it all and it would have blown away.”
"Diane Abbott, a former shadow minister who has been steadfastly loyal to Miliband despite being sacked last October, said: “I think that by sacking her Ed Miliband made the story bigger. I also know that Emily is one of Ed Miliband’s closest and most trusted supporters. As far as I know she is one of very few people in the shadow cabinet who is one of Ed Miliband’s people. It was very ill-advised to let her go.”
"A senior Labour MP, who is not a supporter of Miliband’s leadership, added: “Anyone who thinks that Ed Miliband didn’t need to sack her needs their head examining. I am sure people in London believe he overreacted but I would say that they need to leave London and meet some ordinary people.”
"Frank Field, Labour MP for Birkenhead, said: “This is more damaging than the millions of pounds donated by the businessman Paul Sykes to Ukip. There is a cool anger out there. People will say they despise us for this, that it is an example of how we don’t understand them. It is deadly for us, and this makes it massively more difficult to win the next election”.
Comments
I still dont see what the problem is, I mean a house with England flags on it, whats so unusual about that, a couple of months ago there was a World Cup, and it was difficult to find a house without them.
* she had only meant to praise how patriotic the household who were displaying the flags were,
* that she had not included a word of criticism in the tweet, and
* deeply regretted that anyone had taken it any other way,
she would probably have survived without touching off such a firestorm.
The problem was that her ham-handed response when the issue blew up poured napalm on the flames. You obviously noted, as I did, that it was difficult to find a house without England flags during the World Cup, but she apparently didn't and her comment about how she hadn't seen anything like it before was taken as confirming that the "sneer" interpretation of her original tweet was correct.