Emily Thornberry Quotes
If I had a row with my husband, it's not going to work my saying, 'Right, if you don't do what I want, I'm going to walk out.' It doesn't work on any level. What you do is you go in and you say, 'I have a problem. You have a problem. Let's try and sort this out together.' You don't come to an agreement with people who you're falling out with badly.
Thornberry, Emily. Interview on Brexit Negotiations. BBC News, BBC, 2017.
When there are disputes between nations, sometimes one or both of the countries take the position that the other is so wrong and immoral that to negotiate with them per se gives them a credibility which they do not deserve. So at times one or both of the opponents places preconditions on discussions. Some politicians and governments have had a belief that negotiating with and enemy is a sign of weakness, and the reality is that often the other side characterizes attempts at negotiations as an indicator that they are faring well under the theory that the other side would not negotiate if they didn’t have to. Those governments which have a policy of talking to everyone under any conditions, avoid this dilemma as talks are not a sign of anything but their normal foreign policy.
Emily Anne Thornberry is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington South and Finsbury since 2005. A member of the Labour Party, she has served as Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade since 2020. She had previously served in the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn as Shadow First Secretary of State from 2017 to 2020 and Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2016 to 2020.