A biography for Emily Thornberryhasn’t been written yet.
“What a nightmare it would be if we individually had to criminalise every single abuse of every single commodity, market or financial product. There are thousands of these and new ones being invented every day. Such an approach would have disastrous implications for regulation and policy-making. Any slide towards it must be resisted.”
“There's a particularly nasty element when lots of men get together sometimes.”
“The Human Rights Act has not just given a voice to victims, but to the families who have to fight for the victim where the victim has died.”
“The Tories have long since abdicated any pretension of principled global leadership.”
“The U.K.'s reputation as a business destination will suffer if its authorities cannot be relied on to enforce the law.”
“As the MP for Islington South and Finsbury, I have the privilege of representing one of the most diverse constituencies in the U.K.”
“Yeah, it is particularly upsetting to be called, whatever it was, sneery, or a snob, given the background I have.”
“White collar crime must be taken as seriously as any other crime.”
“The welfare state, which grew out of post-war solidarity, has for decades been based on the principle that those who pay into the system are entitled to expect that the safety net will be there for them when they fall on hard times.”
“Mum was on benefits for a few years. Then I failed the 11-plus and I went to the secondary modern. And that was hard because the expectations were so low in the school.”
“You have to be very poor and desperate, or very rich, or lucky, to live in Islington. We don't have the people in the middle, the people who serve the community.”
“The destructive impact of employment tribunal fees, which were introduced in 2013, is by now well known.”
“I've been in politics a long time and the only way you survive is by getting the hide of a rhino.”
“It is clear that too many bankers think that laws are for the little people.”
“When the Tories came to power in 2010, the ground-breaking Equality Act had just become law. But the newly appointed Equalities Minister wasted no time in systematically undermining both the Act itself and the Commission responsible for enforcing it.”
“For centuries, the courts took the view that preserving the discretion of the authorities trumped the rights of victims to hold them to account. It was because of the Human Rights Act that this began to change.”
“I was born into the Labour party. I was delivering leaflets by the age I could reach the letter box.”
“Even though I've had the odd terse word to say about Donald Trump, I still get invited to events at the U.S. embassy. I always attend, because as long as they're prepared to hear the opposite viewpoint, then I'll never miss that chance when I can.”