Theresa May forced to apologise after mocking Labour MP Emily Thornberry and branding her a posh ‘Lady’

THERESA May was forced to apologise after mocking Labour MP Emily Thornberry as a posh “Lady”.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary is married to High Court judge Sir Christopher Nugee — officially making her Lady Nugee.

But Mrs Thornberry complained to the Speaker when the PM teasingly addressed her by the title during a testy Commons showdown.

The wisecrack from Mrs May came during an update on talks held last week at the Informal European Council in Malta.

Mrs Thornberry had been loudly heckling the PM throughout the Commons appearance and eventually the PM hit out: “The shadow foreign secretary is shouting at me ‘by you’. Yes, Lady Nugee, by me.

Raising a point of order in the Commons on the subject, Ms Thornberry said: “Is it in order for the Prime Minister to refer to a member of this House not by her own name but by the name of her husband?

“And secondly, for the record, I have never been a Lady and it will take a great deal more than me being married to a Knight of the Realm in order to make me one.”

A laughing Mrs May responded: “I did not in any way intend to be disorderly in this House and if you are concerned about the reference I made then of course I will apologise for that.

“I have to say though for the past 36 years I have been referred to by my husband’s name.”

Speaker John Bercow thanked the PM for her apology, adding: “We refer in this chamber to members by their constituencies or if they have a title, for example shadow minister, by their title.

“To refer to them by another name is not the right thing to do but the Prime Minister has said what she has said and I thank her for that, so we shall leave the matter there.”