Webchat with Labour leadership contender Emily Thornberry MP on Wednesday February 5 at 12.30pm

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce a webchat with Labour leadership contender Emily Thornberry MP on Wednesday 5 February at 12.30pm.

Emily Thornberry is Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, having been first elected in 2005; before that she was a barrister specialising in human rights law. She has served in Labour shadow cabinets in roles from the environment and defence to Shadow Attorney General, and is currently Shadow Foreign Secretary, in which role she has opposed Saudi Arabian-led interventions in Yemen and condemned the US’s assassination of Qasem Soleimani, highlighting its potential to inflame tensions in the region.

In 2014 she resigned from the shadow cabinet following a kerfuffle about a tweet featuring a photo of a voter’s house festooned with England flags. Emily has run campaigns on affordable housing, proposed ‘radical legislation’ to close the gender pay gap, and is believed to have argued for Labour to change its Brexit policy and support a second referendum.

Please do join the chat on Wednesday at 12.30pm or if you can’t make it, leave a question here in advance.

We've invited and are hoping to have the final two contenders on over the next few weeks; if you missed our previous webchats with Jess Phillips MP and Sir Keir Starmer MP, click on the links to catch up.

As always, please remember our guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered, and please keep it civil. Also if one topic is dominating a thread, mods might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. (We may suspend the accounts of anyone who continues after we've posted to ask people to stop, so please take note.) Rest assured we will ALWAYS let the guest know that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

Many thanks,
MNHQ

Hello Emily,

If you became leader do you think you would continue all women short lists?

What would be your reasons for either continuing or discontinuing them?

Why are they still needed in 2020?

Imagine you get a chance to do the last election again. What do you do differently, and what wouldn't you change?

Hi Emily, I'm a Labour Party member who has recently rejoined. I quit the party over the poor response to anti-semitism and am hoping this will be strongly tackled by the next leader but I think you've already been asked about that.

So my question is - what positive and optimistic policies would you pursue to get people excited as opposed to "anti" policies ie anti-austerity, anti-Tory. It's not that I don't agree with those but it doesn't seem as though they connect for a lot of people

The party has a huge image problem. How will you turn Labour into a credible opposition? (And hopefully government one day!)

Why do you think so many viewers turned away from labour in the recent election, and what do you think needs to be done to get them to consider voting labour in the future?

Hi Emily,

Do you think the Labour Party's election manifesto was overloaded and what policies would you, if elected leader choose not to retain (by way of example but not confined to; free WiFi, nationalisation, waspie payouts, NHS investment).

Question Context:

Many people (including myself) liked many of the proposed policies but were highly skeptical that these could all be implemented whilst maintaining appropriate fiscal prudence and containing tax increases to the most well off members of society - thus undermining belief in both the Party and the manifesto as a whole.

Do you agree with the phaseout of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, and what other carbon-reducing initiatives would you support?

Hello Emily
What is the Labour party's stance on freedom of speech? There seems to be an alarming illiberal culture shift away from Voltaire's sentiment that you can disagree with what someone says but fight to the death for their right to say it.

On university campuses visiting speakers get no-platformed, lecturers are threatened for having wrongthink and in one case needs police protection. Police are logging "hate incidents" which aren't even crimes and telling people they need to "check their thinking" for liking tweets. An Asda employee was sacked for posting a Billy Connolly video online. Potentially violent mobs gather to try and intimidate and shout down women who meet to discuss women's rights; and the modern marketplaces of ideas, social media platforms, are banning people for expressing views of which their moderators disapprove (not necessarily incitement to violence or hatespeak).

Does the Labour Party believe this is a problem or are you happy with this state of affairs? If you're not, what would you do about it if you got into power? If you are, what views and opinions do you plan on criminalising if you get into power?

Hello Emily, thanks for coming on.

I'm very concerned about the rise of populism both here and abroad - populist leaders seem to be winning the vote with slogans rather than substance and there's now apparently no issue with politicians blatantly lying. Why do you think this is on the rise? How can opposition parties combat it when it's working so well?

Hi Emily, thank you so much for coming on.

I'm a Labour party member who has democratic socialist principles. How do you stand on inheritance? Do you believe there should be a cut off limit for it and how do you personally feel about the income and wealth inequality in this country? What do you propose to tackle this ever increasing gap between the richest and poorest? Can you tell us what your own principles are on wealth inequality and all that this means and how they will guide you if you were PM please?

Also, just to say, I really do hope you win. You already have my vote but I do hope you can convince the rest of the party that you are the bridge between wealth and poverty.

Hello Emily. Don't you think your tweet about White Van man demonstrates everything people have disliked about "out of touch" politicians. When I first read the story, I thought it was done by some snooty Tory. But it was you. How do you defend ongoing reference to it? Like I've just done there.

Labour lost seats they had held for 100 years like Rother Valley, Bishop Auckland, Redcar, Bolsover amongst other losses. Labour no longer represents its traditional voter base. What do you intend to do to address the perception that Labour is now a party of a privileged elite?

Hello Emily.

Are you anticipating a Sanders victory in the USA this year? And if so, how would your Labour government work with a Sanders administration? Thanks

Hi Emily

If you win (and I hope you do) what is the first thing you'll DO as Leader of the Labour Party which will signal a major departure from the agenda of the previous leadership? Deeds not words. Thanks.

I can get 135/1 for you to win....how much should I put on?

Hello. I've seen a few pieces suggesting that Corbyn's handling of the Skripal/Salisbury poisonings was a turning point in the British public's perception of him. That's when the electorate decided he couldn't be trusted on national security.

With the benefit of hindsight, do you think Corbyn's approach on this issue was the right one?

How are you going to reinvigorate the Labour Party in Scotland?

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Hi it's Emily Thornberry. Really good to be back here at Mumsnet answering your questions and surrounded by chocolate biscuits.

What real life experience do you have which makes you sure you are up to the job?

I’m a floating voter in a Bell weather constituency. How are you going to make Labour appeal to people like me?

Hi Emily I felt very excluded by Labour at the last election. I am from a working class background and now have a very well paid job having worked hard to get to where I am. The positioning was that I was one of the "few" and therefore on the outside. How would you make Labour a more inclusive place for all?

Do you agree with Corbyn about getting rid of private schools?

Hi Emily. How do you think Caroline Flint arrived at the view that you had said "I am glad my constituents aren't as stupid as yours" to a MP representing a Leave seat? It seems strange that she would have gone on record with an attack on a fellow Labour MP if she wasn't certain on it...