Corbyn's aides 'let down' Labour leader and should pay price for election defeat, says Thornberry

Actions of staff 'undermined him, and drained away...his authenticity', says leadership hopeful

Emily Thornberry has said senior aides to Jeremy Corbyn should pay the price for Labour's election disaster as the leader was "badly let down" by his top team.

As she stepped up her bid to succeed Mr Corbyn, the shadow foreign secretary mounted an attack on Mr Corbyn's top advisers who remain in post, amid an outcry over possible redundancies among junior party staff.

Ms Thornberry said she was "calling out" unnamed aides who "undermined" the Labour leader - leaving little doubt that she was referring to Seumas Milne, the party's communications chief, and Karie Murphy, a key figure in the election campaign.

She also restated her claim that she warned Mr Corbyn's team against allowing Boris Johnson to hold a Brexit election. Senior figures have blamed Brexit for the Tory gains in a swathe of Leave-voting seats in Labour's traditional heartlands.

Labour has been engulfed in bitter recriminations following last week's disastrous election showing, with clear splits emerging about the future direction of the party.

Ms Thornberry told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think that Jeremy has been badly let down. I think that Jeremy has been badly advised. I think there have been times when we have made decisions and that hasn't been what has been briefed out to the media.

"That has undermined him, and drained away, I think too often, his authenticity, which was something which was so important and resonated so much with people in 2017.

"And I think that there have been a number of mistakes made between 2017 and 2019 that undermined him so fundamentally. As I say, I think he was let down."

Asked who she was referring to, she said: "I call out the people. I'm not naming anyone but you know who it is that I'm talking about.

"Now we're in a position where there is talk of redundancies amongst more junior staff, and both at Southside [Labour's London headquarters] and the Leader's office, and indeed amongst advisors, including my own, and that it may be necessary for them to be made redundant and yet those that make the very decisions about the general election don't seem to be under threat."

The leadership hopeful said the party's equivocation on Brexit was a "big mistake" but also pointed to the handling of antisemitism and the Salisbury poisoning as problems.

In a separate interview with ITV's Peston, the Islington South and Finsbury MP said: “I think it’s really sad to see the way in which the staff at head office and in the leader’s office are being told that many of them may be made redundant, but as far as I understand it, the senior people within those teams are not under threat.

"It does seem to me that if decisions have been made wrongly it should be those people who pay the price and not those who were working night and day in junior positions.”

A Labour spokesman said: "We don't comment on staffing matters."

John McDonnell challenged her claims that senior Labour figures were happy to press ahead with the Brexit election.

The shadow chancellor said: "For historical accuracy, many of us wanted to delay election until after the Brexit legislation had been won or lost.

"This would have meant in the New Year but was impossible once SNP & Lib Dems decided to vote for one & gave Johnson the votes he needed."