Labour leadership contender says Johnson ‘has a problem with women’
foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has insisted Prime Minister Boris Johnson has “a problem with women”.
Launching her bid to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Opposition, Ms Thornberry said she was best placed to oust the PM within five years.
She told reporters: “Boris Johnson has all sorts of problems with women.
“And he is going to have an even bigger one if I become leader of the Labour Party.
“I think that he has a problem with women. I have spoken to a number of women who have said that the way he deals with them - and they are younger women - is that he flirts with them.
“He makes light of them and he undermines them. He has problems with women such as myself. He doesn’t know what to do with me.”
Ms Thornberry insisted Labour can be back in power in the next five years, saying: “I think that a competent alternative government could get back into power within five years.”
Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-bailey also kicked off her campaign on Friday with a speech in Manchester, in which she vowed to “shake up” the way Government works and put power into the hands of voters.
Shepromisedtoendthe“gentlemen’s club of politics” by devolving power out of Westminster, while pledging to introduce a “Green New Deal” that unites Labour heartlands.
“Where I grew up, Westminster, even London, felt like a million miles away,” she said.
“The story of the last few years is that many people feel there is something wrong with their laws being drafted hundreds of miles away by a distant and largely unaccountashadow ble bureaucratic elite in Brussels.
“But I’ll be honest, Westminster didn’t feel much closer, and it still doesn’t today.”
The first Labour hustings event will take place in Liverpool on Saturday. Mrs Longbailey and Ms Thornberry will be joined by fellow candidates Lisa Nandy, Jess Phillips and Sir Keir Starmer.
Labour members will also be able to put questions to the deputy leadership contenders.