Caroline Flint doubles down on claim Emily Thornberry called northern voters stupid but she says its utter lies

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LABOUR’S Caroline Flint has stood by her claims that Emily Thornberry referred to Northern Brexit voters as “stupid”.

Ms Thornberry said last night it was an “utter lie” to suggest she laughed at Leave supporters, as Ms Flint claimed she commented to a former colleague.

Caroline Flint stood by her comments about Emily Thornberry this morning

She is alleged to have told a fellow MP in a Leave voting seat: “I’m glad my constituents aren’t as stupid as yours.”

This morning Ms Flint doubled down on her claims, telling Good Morning Britain: “I made my comments yesterday, I stand by them.”

But she refused to go into any more detail, adding: “I may be subject to legal proceedings so I don’t think I should comment any further.

“I stand by my comments yesterday but I don’t want to comment any further but I said what I said and I stand by them.”

Ms Thornberry was widely criticised five years ago when she mocked a white van man for draping an England flag out of the window of his home.

Yesterday the Shadow Foreign Secretary – who some have tipped for the Labour leadership – blasted the claims as “utter lies”.

She said: “Ive never said that to anyone, nor anything like it, nor would I ever think it.

“I once told Michael Fallon: You cant just go round making things up. Whatever our differences, lets not sink into that gutter.”

It is believed that Ms Thornberry is getting legal advice over Ms Flint’s comments.

Meanwhile, ex-minister and former Don Valley MP Ms Flint hinted she would like to see someone like Lisa Nandy lead the party after its historic election defeat last week, in which she lost her seat.

She explained that the next leader needed to come from the North of England – or should be someone who understands Leave voters: “I don’t think any of the architects on our strategy on Brexit whether it’s Emily Thornberry, Keir Starmer or others are really the best candidates to be leader of the Labour Party.

“I would prefer to see someone who understood better the concerns of those Labour Leave voters and I would prefer someone from the North of England.”

Mr Corbyn is set to stay on as Labour leader until the end of March – to give time to find someone else.

Emily Thornberry is alleged to have called voters stupid

Ms Flint insisted the reasons for the party’s worst defeat since 1935 was both a “Brexit problem and a Jeremy Corbyn problem”.

“People felt that Parliament had dithered and the Labour policy was shambolic, but more importantly they felt angry about how they were being treated and judged on how they voted,” she said.

“I think there was definitely an element of trust with Jeremy Corbyn as our leader, but also some of the other people around him as well.”