Emily Thornberry refuses to sing from same hymn sheet as Corbyn

Although Jeremy Corbyn used his Andrew Marr interview to try to smooth over and move on from internal party rows at Labour conference, his colleagues appear to have other ideas. This morning, Corbyn ally Len McCluskey used a media appearance to say that pro-Remain shadow cabinet ministers must either get on side and sing ‘from the same hymn sheet’ on Corbyn’s Brexit plans – or ‘step aside’. He singled out Emily Thornberry for criticism: ‘My message to them, to Emily and anyone else, is to support your leader.’

However, McCluskey is to be left disappointed. Thornberry used a fringe event this lunchtime to reiterate her view that Labour should campaign on an explicitly pro-Remain footing in an election. The shadow foreign secretary went against Corbyn’s preferred policy as of this morning – to agree how Labour should campaign in a second referendum not at this conference but at a future conference once a Corbyn government has renegotiated the Brexit deal.