Emily Thornberry takes swipe at Jeremy Corbyn's decision to nominate Karie Murphy for peerage

Emily Thornberry has taken a swipe at Jeremy Corbyn's decision to nominate his chief of staff for a peerage.



The Shadow Foreign Secretary said "this is not a time for us to pack the House of Lords with politicos who've been close to the leader".

Ms Thornberry insisted she would not do it if she wins the race to succeed Mr Corbyn as Labour boss.

Ms Murphy is understood to be among eight people Mr Corbyn has nominated for a peerage in the dissolution honours list. Others include John Bercow and Tom Watson.

But speaking to the BBC, Ms Thornberry said: "As Leader of the Labour Party I would not be putting people forward for peerages who have been close to me and working in my office.

"I think that David Cameron did it and I think that was wrong. I think that this is not a time for us to pack the House of Lords with politicos who've been close to the leader.

"That's my view, I think there are many people, if we are going to appoint people to the House of Lords, from a much wider background who should be going into the House of Lords.

"But that's my decision, that is not a personal thing about any individuals. That is the way in which leaders have done things until now and I would do it differently."

In another dig at Ms Murphy, who effectively ran Labour's disastrous election campaign, Ms Thornberry said the party would be "more professional" under her leadership.

"We will be more believable, we will be more credible and people would say, 'oh, thank goodness the Labour Party's back'," she said. "You know, we can vote for the Labour Party now, because the Labour Party hasn't fundamentally changed, but at least we can believe that they will do the things that they say they're going to do."

Her comments come after Rebecca Long-Bailey also appeared to criticise Mr Corbyn when she said "promotions will be based on what you know, not who you know" if she becomes leader.

She also said "mismanagement and a bad organisational culture" had played a part in Labour's election drubbing.

Sources close to Ms Long-Bailey were later forced to make clear that she was not criticising Seb Corbyn, the leader's son who worked for John McDonnell, or Laura Murray, the daughter of key Corbyn adviser Andrew Murray.