Emily Thornberry (pictured) previously had to resign after tweeting a picture of a white van and house decked with St George's flags

Labour frontbencher Emily Thornberry faced accusations of hypocrisy last night after it emerged that her husband had made more than £500,000 profit buying a former housing association property for her brother to live in.

Oxford-educated judge Sir Christopher Nugee paid £572,000 for the three-storey Georgian townhouse in Ms Thornberry's Islington constituency as part of a release of social housing stock on to the private market – even though Jeremy Corbyn's party is opposed to such sell-offs.

The property is now worth more than £1 million and is occupied by Ms Thornberry's brother Ben.

Details of the deal will heap fresh embarrassment on Ms Thornberry, who resigned from Labour's front bench in 2014 after she sent a 'snobby' tweet showing a terrace house with three England flags and a white van parked outside during the Rochester and Strood by-election.

Last night, MP Brandon Lewis, chairman of the Conservative Party, said: 'This is wild hypocrisy from Emily Thornberry – she's pocketing the profits from a policy Labour want to scrap. As usual Labour say one thing and do the other. Labour are against home ownership, they voted against our cut to stamp duty and by abolishing right-to-buy would stop people from achieving the dream of home ownership.'

The deal is highlighted in a Channel 4 investigation into the £400 million sell-off of more than 1,600 housing association properties.

Sir Christopher bought the housing association property in 2007, two years after his wife became MP for Islington South and Finsbury. Pictured: Her £3million home (left) and her brother's £1million home (right)

According to the programme, a total of 179 executives in the 50 largest housing associations are earning more than the Prime Minister's £152,000 salary. Over the past five years, the largest 30 associations have made operating profits of more than £13 billion.

Sir Christopher and Lady Nugee – Ms Thornberry's married name – live in a four-storey Victorian house in an exclusive North London crescent worth about £3 million.

Sir Christopher bought the housing association property in 2007, two years after his wife became MP for Islington South and Finsbury. The couple have been married for 26 years. It is not known whether her brother pays rent.

The programme also features Kate Davies, the controversial head of the Notting Hill Genesis social housing organisation, who marked the first anniversary of the Grenfell fire last month – in which eight of her tenants died – by hosting a party to promote her book Making Life More Beautiful. It reveals that Ms Davies, who earned £256,000 last year, has bought a £700,000 luxury second home on the Lower Mill Estate in the Cotswolds.

Last night Ms Thornberry's spokesman said the housing association sold the properties because they were 'no longer a cost-effective use of their limited budget'.

Ms Thornberry's spokesman added that Sir Christopher had not bought a property which would otherwise have remained in housing association use, but one that would have been purchased by another buyer at the auction.

'Ms Thornberry has consistently argued for an increase in the overall provision of social housing and the improvement of the existing stock, and for central government to provide the necessary resources to enable that investment.'