Fabian Hamilton, MP for Leeds West, is the latest MP to endorse Emily Thornberry ( Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Affairs) in the Labour Leadership race. Thornberry has also been nominated by MPs Alex Davies-Jones, Catherine West, Gareth Thomas, Gerald Jones, Liz Twist, Nia Griffith, Matthew Western, and Meg Hillier.
Hamilton expressed that Thornberry ‘constantly and powerfully put Labour’s case for humanitarianism and a truly ethical foreign policy to the government’. He also expressed that Thornberry would bring ‘a new level of stability to the role and the Party’.
Emily Thornberry has been an MP for Islington South and Finsbury since 2005, since then she has served as Shadow Attorney General, Shadow Employment Minister, Shadow Defence Secretary and Shadow Foreign Secretary.
In February 2019, Thornberry visited Leeds Labour Students to speak about how she prefers ‘hands-on’ politics and how humbling her experience as an MP has been.
The Labour party is holding the Leadership election after it lost over 50 seats in the December 2019 election, Labour’s worst performance since 1935. In the aftermath of the election, Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would step down as the party has called for the need for a new leader and more stability.
On Thursday speaking to Sky News, Thornberry ranked Jeremy Corbyn 10/10 for principle and 0/10 for his electoral record; as the party lost the election. Currently, Thornberry has been endorsed by only 9 out of the 22 needed to progress to the second round of the leadership race meaning that it is unlikely that she’ll receive the number of nominations needed.
Thornberry is battling for leadership of the party against Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Jessica Phillips, Lisa Nandy, and Clive Lewis.
Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Jessica Phillips, Lisa Nandy have all received the required number of nominations to proceed to the second round.
Hamilton and Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East, are the only Labour MPs in Leeds to have endorsed a candidate. Burgon endorsed Rebecca Long-Bailey, the Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Burgon is also running in the Deputy Leadership contest. Angela Rayner and Ian Murray are currently the only candidates to have received the required number of nominations (24) with 56 and 26 so far respectively.
Burgon has 15 as of the publishing of this article with John McDonnell and Diane Abbott being among the first people to endorse him.
Alex Sobel, MP for Leeds North West, indicated in a tweet he was likely to support candidates who had not received the required number of nominations.
Hamilton’s statement in full:
“During Boris Johnson’s time as Foreign Secretary, Emily consistently and powerfully put Labour’s case for humanitarianism and a truly ethical foreign policy to the government. In light of the events in Iran, it’s absolutely vital that Labour elects a leader who will uphold our commitment to human rights, peace, and disarmament. These have always been core Labour values and will certainly be enhanced under Emily’s leadership.
While serving as Labour’s Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament since 2016, I have worked very closely with Emily as part of her excellent Shadow FCO team. Not only is she an inspirational leader that truly gets the best out of everybody she works with, but she also commands my utmost confidence owing to her impressive breadth and depth of detailed knowledge of her brief – something I know she would only improve on as Leader of the Opposition, while bringing a new level of stability to the role and to the Party, as a result.”
The Gryphon will report when MPs Hilary Benn, Alex Sobel, and Rachel Reeves have made an endorsement.
Image Credit: Sky News