Published: October 14, 2011
by ANDREW JOHNSON

ISLINGTON South MP Emily Thornberry’s rapid rise in the political arena continued apace on Friday when Labour leader Ed Miliband promoted her to the Shadow Cabinet in his reshuffle.

It is the third promotion in three years for the Islington South and Finsbury MP, who was first elected to Parliament in 2005. In that time Ms Thornberry, who lives in Barnsbury and was a lawyer for 20 years, has already held the shadow environment and climate change and shadow health minister briefs. She told the Tribune yesterday that being made Shadow Attorney General came “comple­tely out of the blue”.

“It was a great surprise and I’m very pleased,” she said. “The Attorney General is the government’s lawyer and the shadow job is not only to hold him to account, by also to provide the Labour leadership with legal advice on bills – which may differ from the government’s advice.

“I also want to protect the legacy of the previous Labour government. We did a lot of work making sure the victims of violent crime – especially women in rape cases, victims of human trafficking and slavery – were protected and properly supported through the courts. The budgets for this are now being cut drastically.”

Ms Thornberry is one of 11 women in the 27-strong new team, which is the first to be picked by the Labour leader without having to stick to the results of a poll of the parliamentary party, following a rule change.