Emily Thornberry accuses Labour advisers of 'undermining' Jeremy Corbyn
3 min read
Emily Thornberry has accused "courtiers" working for Jeremy Corbyn of "undermining" the leader during the election campaign.
The Shadow Foreign Secretary launched the extraordinary attack on Mr Corbyn's senior advisers just a day after formally announcing her plans to run for leader in the wake of the party's calamitous election fight.
Speaking to the BBC's Today Programme, Ms Thornberry said the Labour leader had been "badly let down" by his closest aides.
But she refused to name names when asked if she was referring to Mr Corbyn's communications director, Seamus Milne.
Instead she said Mr Corbyn's "authenticity" was damaged with the electorate after advisers failed to properly brief the media on decisions taken by the party.
"I think that Jeremy has been badly let down," she said. "I think that Jeremy has been badly advised. I think there have been times when we have made decisions and that hasn't been what has been briefed out to the media."
She added: "That has undermined him, and drained away, I think too often, his authenticity, which was something which was so important and resonated so much with people in 2017.
"And I think that there have been a number of mistakes made between 2017 and 2019 that undermined him so fundamentally.
"As I say, I think he was let down."
Meanwhile, Ms Thornberry vowed to not let advisers guide her decisions, telling LBC: "They give advice and I am the one who makes decisions. There is no background briefing in relation to me.
"Without a doubt some of the courtiers around [Jeremy Corbyn] were part of the problem."
Fellow London MP and Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer has also signalled him intention to run for leader, warning the party must not "oversteer" to the right after the election defeat.
The senior Labour MP said the party had failed to tackle the "moral issue" of anti-semitism as he vowed to make the party a "broad church" which could include supporters of Mr Corbyn and people who "self-identify as Blairites".
Elsewhere, Wigan MP Lisa Nandy said she was also "seriously considering" joining the race to be the next leader, saying Labour was facing its "last chance to save the party".
Speaking to the Mirror, she said: "This is genuinely the moment when we decide whether we want to save the Labour Party. This isn't an argument about saving it from one faction or another.
"It's about whether that traditional coalition that has propelled us into power three times in the last 100 years can hold good, and whether we can speak for both Lewisham and Leigh."
She added: "It's been a very long time coming. We've lost older voters, non-graduates and many working class voters. In the end, they felt that Labour had left them."
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