Before Parliament
Thornberry was born in north Surrey to Cedric Thornberry, a Visiting Professor of War Studies at King's College London, and his wife Sally Thornberry, a teacher. Her parents divorced when Thornberry was aged seven and she and her two brothers lived with her mother who later became a Labour Councillor and Mayor. Her father went on to become United Nations Assistant Secretary General and work for NATO. She was educated at the University of Kent at Canterbury where she studied law. She went on to practice as a barrister specialising in human rights law from 1985 to 2005 under Michael Mansfield at Tooks Chambers. Thornberry joined the Transport and General Workers Union in 1985. In the late 1980s she became friends with Waheed (now Lord) Alli, and persuaded him to join the Labour Party.
Read more about this topic: Emily Thornberry
Famous quotes containing the word parliament:
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What is the historical function of Parliament in this country? It is to prevent the Government from governing.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)