Labours Emily Thornberry blasted after praising Jeremy Corbyn for always calling out racism

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EMILY Thornberry has been blasted after praising Jeremy Corbyn for always calling out racism.

The Labour leadership contender made the comments while speaking at a Holocaust Memorial Day event.

It comes despite Labour facing a series of antisemitism accusations under Mr Corbyn, as well as an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Emily Thornberry’s comments have sparked fury

According to the Jewish Chronicle, Ms Thornberry said: “It isn’t just the children in this room who have been educated, it’s the adults here that continue to be educated.

And we continue to be reminded, particularly the politicians amongst us, that we’ve seen it before and I hope we never see it again, that people think they can get votes by playing the race card.

I know that Jeremy will always call it out and I will always call it out. We are one, we are family.”

The comments sparked fury, with Dame Margaret Hodge lashing out at the 59-year-old.

She said: “If it wasnt so serious, this would be a joke. I think Emily Thornberry needs to reflect on the reality before she makes statements like that.”

Ian Austin, a former Labour MP who quit the party over Mr Corbyn’s leadership also blasted the claims.

He said: “Its easy to speak about racism at a Holocaust commemoration.

But their words would have much more weight if the Labour Party had not been poisoned by racism against Jewish people under Jeremy Corbyns leadership.

“He could start to make amends by booting out the racists and apologising for his responsibility for this scandal before he stands down.”

Meanwhile fellow leadership contender Sir Keir Starmer announced he would order an update on the issue of anti-semitism among members on “day one” of taking up the role.

He is currently the favourite, with political betting aggregator BonusCodeBets.co.uk having him at at 3/10, Rebecca Long-Bailey at 4/1, Lisa Nandy on 11/2 and Ms Thornberry on 100/1.