Labour storm over McDonnell’s MP jibe

EMILY Thornberry was last night accused of ‘shameless hypocrisy’ after she repeatedly refused to condemn shadow chancellor John McDonnell for calling a Tory cabinet minister a ‘stain on humanity’.

In a radio interview, the shadow foreign secretary attacked free schools pioneer Toby Young for making offensive comments on Twitter.

But in the same interview, she refused to criticise her colleague John McDonnell for calling new Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey a ‘stain on humanity’.

Confronted with the shadow chancellor’s remarks by Radio 5Live’s Emma Barnett, Miss Thornberry said: ‘You can pull out quotes from colleagues of mine from the last five, ten, 15 years and take them out of context – if I’ve not heard them before I am not in a position to be able to help you.’

Later she added it was a ‘matter for John’ as to whether he should apologise, adding: ‘I would never talk about anybody else like that’.

Last night Tory MP Nadine Dorries said: ‘This is shameless hypocrisy. Emily Thornberry ... is quick to condemn Toby Young. But when it comes to John McDonnell she’s prepared to turn a blind eye to a vicious and nasty attack on Esther McVey.’

Jeremy Corbyn also failed to distance himself from the remarks. Asked if the Labour leader viewed Miss McVey as a ‘stain on humanity’, the spokesman said: ‘Jeremy is also highly critical of her record and her appointment is a cause for alarm and will be for disabled people in particular.’