Jeremy Corbyn tries to high-five Emily Thornberry but ends up slapping her in the breast in embarrassing gaffe as he arrives at Islington count
JEREMY Corbyn made a boob when he appeared to accidentally brush Emily Thornberry's breast in a high-five gone wrong today.
The Opposition leader had gone for a celebratory high-five when his left hand appeared to land on the Shadow Foreign Secretary's chest - with the MP forced to try to laugh it off.
Corbyn had been surrounded by cheering Labour supporters as he arrived at the count centre in Islington in the early hours of Friday morning when Ms Thornberry came up to congratulate the leader over the party taking over a number of key seats.
The pair first hugged, then pointed at each other before Corbyn went in for the failed high-five.
The gaffe came as Corbyn celebrated being brought back from the dead overnight — with the party grabbing up a number of seats from the Conservatives.
Jubilant sources in Labour’s leadership team claimed their strategy had been completely vindicated, with the Tory party in turmoil.
But the 68-year-old was potentially too giddy with excitement when he saw the Shadow Foreign Secretary, who this morning was confirmed as holding her Islington South and Finsbury seat.
In a statement, Corbyn took to Twitter to thank voters for their support, writing: “I want to send my thanks to everyone who voted for our manifesto and its radical vision for a fairer Britain.
“Our team has worked so hard on this campaign – from door knocking to social media – and it’s great we have won so much support across the country.
“Whatever the final result, our positive campaign has changed politics for the better.”
The possibility of a hung parliament left voters reeling on election night, with Theresa May's snap election gamble in ruins.
But even before the polls closed, senior sources in the Labour Party were claiming a Tory majority of 50 seats would be a “success”.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry said: “We are prepared to be the next government."
It's not the first time that Thornberry has made headlines for the wrong reasons, with the member of Corbyn's top team involved in a car crash interview.
Standing in for her ill shadow cabinet colleague Diane Abbott for a key election debate about security, she said locking up suspected jihadis would only radicalise them more.
Asked if she backed detaining more terror suspects, Ms Thornberry told Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour: “The difficulty is that you can make a mistake and if you arrest the wrong Mohammed and you keep him locked up for three months and you eventually realise you’ve got the wrong guy and you let him out – if he wasn’t radical before he certainly will be by the time he gets out.”
Some of the key details from the turbulent election night:
- Hung parliament confirmed with Tories missing out on majority of 326 with polls predicting 318 seats - down from 330
- Labour forecast to take 262 - up from 232 in 2015.
- Theresa May faces mounting pressure – with the odds slashed on Boris Johnson to be the next PM
- Fears grow Brexit negotiations could be sunk if Mrs May does not secure a majority
- Lib Dem Nick Clegg loses Sheffield Hallam seat but Vince Cable regains Twickenham while leader Tim Farron clings on
- Home Secretary Amber Rudd holds on to Hastings seat by barely 300 votes meaning she stays a contender to replace the PM
- Huge losses for SNP as former chief Alex Salmond and deputy leader Angus Robertson are both beaten by the Tories.
- Labour on march in London beating Tories to Battersea constituency
- Pound slides two per cent as exit poll predicts hung parliament
- Ukip voters desert party with vote share down by ten per cent - but not all move to the Tories
- Growing fears that Mrs May will have to call a second election later this year