Emily Thornberry has defended a widely criticised Labour advert that claims Rishi Sunak does not think adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison.
Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions on Friday if she believed that Sunak held such views, and replied : “If he believes that everyone responsible for child abuse should get a custodial sentence, why are so many not getting a custodial sentence? He is the prime minister and that is a legitimate question for the opposition to ask.”
However, the Labour former home secretary David Blunkett said he had been left “close to despair” by the “deeply offensive” advert, which he said marked a descent into “gutter” politics.
In a comment piece for the Daily Mail, he wrote: “Once you resort to personal abuse, you create the risk that Britain’s public discourse will degenerate even further – to the levels that we have seen recently in the US.
“When baseless allegations and spurious slurs replace fair and robust political debate, not only is the standing of our leaders undermined, the very foundations of our democracy are compromised.”
Lord Blunkett said he found it “impossible to believe” that Keir Starmer, the party leader, “would endorse publishing this kind of material during a local election campaign”, and he called on him to act.
He said Starmer should take steps to ensure that “unacceptable language and imagery of this sort are never used again, and that the people responsible for it are properly dealt with.”
The senior Tory MP Tobias Ellwood called the advert “appalling”, and the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell called for it to be withdrawn, tweeting: ‘We, the Labour party, are better than this.”
The shadow culture secretary, Lucy Powell, refused to endorse the advert, admitting it was “not to everybody’s taste”. However, she said she stood by the party’s campaign.
Thornberry, acknowledging that some people had been critical of the advert, said: “Some felt very uncomfortable about it; some thought that it was racist – and I have to say I think they are wrong. I think that the truth is that we do need to have a debate in this country and Rishi Sunak in this country is the prime minister and he is responsible for a broken justice system.”
The advert, posted on social media on Thursday, uses a photo of Sunak with a mock signature from the prime minister, and the words: “Do you think adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison? Rishi Sunak doesn’t.”
An accompanying caption reads: “Labour is the party of law and order.”
The pensions minister, Laura Trott, who was also on Any Questions, called the ad a “desperate stunt”. The Lib Dem MP Munira Wilson said she was “disgusted” by it, adding: “This is not an attack ad my party would use.”
Despite the fallout, Labour continued its attack on the Tories as the parties approach the local elections in May. On Friday, it tweeted a second advert with a similar format, accusing Sunak of being soft on gun crime. The advert asks: “Do you think an adult convicted of possessing a gun with intent to harm should go to prison? Rishi Sunak doesn’t.”
Citing data from the Ministry of Justice, the advert adds: “Under the Tories, 937 adults convicted of possession of a firearm with intent to harm served no prison time.”
Blunkett said it was “absurd to argue that the prime minister must take personal responsibility for the sentencing policies of judges”.
