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Making of a rebel
• I WORRY that Labour MP Emily Thornberry may be getting a bit carried away by the government’s decision to keep the Royal Mail in public ownership.
Lord Mandelson, Labour’s unelected First Secretary of State, only said that privatisation was on hold – and that if Labour win the next election privatisation would be back on the table.
It is unusual for Ms Thornberry to stand against the government. She backed Gordon Brown against attempts to win compensation for local people on low wages who lost money on his 10p tax grab. She supports him on ID cards and all the other terrible policies of this fag-end government. So why did she rebel on the Royal Mail?
Looking at the accounts of Islington South and Finsbury Labour Party, I see that it has received more than £17,000 in donations from the Communication Workers Union since 2003.
For Ms Thornberry, it seems that, while her first loyalty is to Gordon Brown, ultimately whoever pays the piper calls the tune.
DOMINIC CURRAN
Goswell Road, EC1
• I READ in the Guardian last week that our Labour MP, Emily Thornberry, claimed on her expenses for CCTV for her office in Islington. I went online and looked at her expenses, and found she has spent thousands of pounds of expenses’ cash on new CCTV cameras, locks, and security for her office.
It’s like she has used her expenses to build a fortress for herself in Barnsbury.
Is this an admission that her government has so badly failed on law and order that we need to barricade our homes. What about those of us without generous expense accounts to do so? Or is she preparing for when the mob rises up to physically kick Gordon Brown’s Labour party out of government?
Vamsi Velagapudi
Drayton Park, N5
• MAY I thank Councillor Marisha Ray for bringing up the question of expenses (Paying for propaganda, July 3) as until recently the people of Islington have been paying for Lib Dem propaganda.
Before the passing of the progressive budget in February, the Lib Dems had been paying themselves the highest councillor allowances in the country and much of this has been siphoned off to their party funds.
Since the budget slashed the total allowances by more than £100,000 it is reasonable to suppose that this is the sum going straight from our council tax to the Lib Dems’ coffers. So when you next get a leaflet from the Lib Dems dropping through your letterbox, remember, you paid for it.
CLLR BARRY EDWARDS
Labour, Holloway ward
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