All smiles! Corbyn’s defence chief parties with boss of law firm hounding our troops
COSYING up at a lavish champagnefuelled party, Emily Thornberry and the lawyer hounding British soldiers enjoy Christmas celebrations.
Miss Thornberry, who was appointed shadow defence secretary by Jeremy Corbyn this week, attended the Leigh Day Christmas party at the Barbican in London last month as the firm continued to chase troops over their role in the Iraq War.
The Islington South Labour MP and Martyn Day, a partner in the firm overseeing the Iraqi cases, enjoyed canapes and champagne, complete with palm trees and a jazz band, in the arts venue’s garden room.
On Wednesday it emerged that Miss Thornberry had accepted almost £50,000 as a benefit in kind from Leigh Day and Co when she was shadow attorney general. The firm is behind hundreds of legal claims against British troops and the Ministry of Defence.
The Daily Mail can also reveal that Labour Party HQ received nearly £20,000 from Leigh Day four years ago. The donation in kind – which totalled £19,125 – was registered with the Electoral Commission.
Miss Thornberry also attended their Christmas party in 2014 when she was pictured celebrating with Richard Stein, a former Labour councillor, who is now also a partner at the business.
But three Leigh Day lawyers are currently facing a disciplinary hearing after the Solicitors Regulation Authority found the firm had failed to establish if Iraqis they were representing were insurgents or villagers.
The firm is also accused of shredding a key document that suggested many claimants were armed insurgents before it was due to be handed to an official inquiry into the claims. Last night war veterans, military families and politicians called for Miss Thornberry to resign, and claimed her links to the law firm meant she had a ‘conflict of interest’ if she was ever asked to investigate claims made by soldiers.
Miss Thornberry insisted on Wednesday that she had ‘no idea’ about the allegations against the firm, which is facing a tribunal over its alleged dodgy practice.
Tory MP Stewart Jackson told the Mail: ‘It’s extremely ill-judged for someone like Emily Thornberry to accept the job of shadow defence secretary when she has such close relations with a firm of lawyers which has been accused and is under investigation in respect of very serious allegations about professional propriety.
‘In the first instance I think she needs to distance herself from them and she can begin that process by handing back the money she received in a donation from them in its entirety, with an apology to servicemen and women and their families for her conduct.’
Tory MP David Mowat said: ‘I think it’s extraordinary that the Labour Party have seen fit to promote to this role somebody who appears to have received so much money from a company whose main interest is finding reasons to sue our soldiers.
‘There is clearly a worrying association between Leigh Day and Emily Thornberry and she should consider very strongly whether to give the money back.’
Former private Robert Gray, 61, said: ‘She is a disgrace to politics and she should resign forthwith and give the money she received to a military charity.’ Ian Sadler, a former soldier whose son Jack was killed in Afghani- stan in 2007, said: ‘It seems totally wrong that they would put someone in charge of the shadow defence job when she is hand in glove with Leigh Day.’
More than 300 QCs, peers and hospital consultants were invited to the firm’s lavish Christmas party last month. The garden room was hired at a cost of £3,500, with the added minimum cost of £3,000 for catering.
Miss Thornberry also invited Mr Day to a reception at the Houses of Parliament in 2012. As shadow attorney general she praised her long-standing friend at the annual do in the Jubilee Room for helping out with her work. She and Leigh Day did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.
Jan Moir – Pages 34-35