‘Emily Thornberry’s Islington home is at the heart of the liberal elite’s dinner party circuit. Directly next door is Margaret Hodge, who is expected to seek Labour’s nomination to be the next London Mayor.

Ms Thornberry’s home is a vast, four-storey Victorian townhouse in an area beloved of lawyers and bankers, where a similar property changed hands earlier this year for £2.9 million – £900,000 above the threshold for Labour’s planned ‘soak-the-rich’ mansion tax.

Hodge’s likely rival, Tessa Jowell, lives a couple of miles north. If Ms Thornberry ever needs to consult Tom Baldwin, one of Ed Miliband’s key advisers, he is only a short stroll away.’

Read more: The Thornberry Set and their million pound homes … how Ed's elite live cheek by jowl in leafy north London