Dame Emily Anne Thornberry, Lady Nugee DBE (born 27 July 1960) is a British Labour politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington South and Finsbury since 2005.

After graduating from the University of Kent in Canterbury, she worked as a human rights lawyer from 1985 to 2005 and joined the Transport and General Workers' Union.

She was a candidate to succeed Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party in the 2020 leadership election but was eliminated from the race after failing to obtain the number of nominations needed.

She was appointed Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales in November 2021, but did not receive a ministerial position in Starmer's post-election government formed in July 2024.

In the 2025 New Year Honours Thornberry was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for political and public service.

She was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn and practised as a barrister specialising in human rights law from 1985 to 2005 under Michael Mansfield at Tooks Chambers.

[15] At the 2001 general election, Thornberry stood as the Labour candidate in Canterbury, coming second with 36.9% of the vote behind the incumbent Conservative MP Julian Brazier.

In 2006, Thornberry was criticised by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Philip Mawer for adding a quote from herself into a news release by the Electoral Commission.

[25] In May 2008, Thornberry supported a change in the law to allow single women and lesbian couples to seek in vitro fertilisation treatment.

[26][27] In 2009, she was appointed as a ministerial aide in the Department of Energy and Climate Change and attended the Copenhagen Summit in December that year with Joan Ruddock and Ed Miliband.

[42] Thornberry called for action by Dominic Grieve over Applied Language Solutions' failure to provide interpreters for court proceedings.

[44][45] Earlier in the day, she had received criticism after tweeting a photograph of a house in the constituency adorned with three flags of St. George[46] and the owner's white van parked outside on the driveway, under the caption "Image from #Rochester", provoking accusations of snobbery.

[61] She accused Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan of sexism after he asked her to name French minister of foreign affairs and international development, Jean-Marc Ayrault and the president of South Korea, which she was unable to do.

She said that "while Saudi Arabia will remain a valued strategic, security and economic ally in the years to come, our support for their forces in Yemen must be suspended until the alleged violations of international humanitarian law in that conflict have been fully and independently investigated".

[75] Defeated Labour MP Caroline Flint appeared on Sophy Ridge on Sunday and accused Thornberry of saying that Brexit voters in Northern England were 'stupid'.

After the killing of Qasem Soleimani in the 2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike, Thornberry condemned the actions of the United States government.

[79] Thornberry was replaced as Shadow Foreign Secretary by Lisa Nandy upon the election of Keir Starmer as Leader of the Labour Party.

[84] In late December 2020, Thornberry voted for the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020, in line with the Labour Chief Whip.

[93] In July 2024, Thornberry was one of five politicians to cover for James O'Brien's radio show on LBC, as part of the station's "Guest Week".

[94] Thornberry's constituency is in the London Borough of Islington, which has disproportionately high house prices and private sector rents.

Thornberry criticised Johnson, describing his definition of affordability as "nonsense", and called for at least 50% of homes in the new developments to be made available for social rent.

"[107] In April 2005, it was reported that Thornberry and Nugee had sent their son to the partially selective Dame Alice Owen's state school 14 miles (23 km) from their home and outside her constituency.

[110] Thornberry was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2025 New Year Honours for political and public service.