Jeremy Corbyn leapt to the defence of fellow Islington MP Emily Thornberry yesterday and predicted that she will return to Labour’s front bench after her “unnecessary” Twitter spat sacking.

Labour MP Mr Corbyn denounced a wave of media attacks on Ms Thornberry over her white van post as “nonsense” designed to distract his party from fighting Tory austerity.

He told the Star: “I think it (her sacking) was unfortunate, unnecessary and I would imagine she’ll be back at some point in the future.”

The Islington North MP works closely with Ms Thornberry, who represents the neighbouring constituency of Islington South and Finsbury.

And he hit back at claims about the constituencies after Nick Clegg yesterday became the latest politician to suggest they represent leafy middle-class communities.

The Deputy PM called Ms Thornberry’s Twitter post “jaw-droppingly patronising” and said “maybe this is the sort of thing that happens when you become MP for Islington.”

Mr Clegg’s own Sheffield Hallam seat was found to have more professionals and upper management in its population than Islington in the 2011 census.

Mr Corbyn said he was proud of the borough’s “radical spirit” but described the area as “an inner-London borough just like all the others.”

He said: “Forty per cent of our kids are living in poverty, we have a housing crisis brought about by high private-sector rents and gentrification pursued by Boris Johnson.

“I just get irritated by this nonsense.

“We are like any other inner-city area in Liverpool, Glasgow, Birmingham, Newcastle — trying to do our best to survive under a Tory government.”

Ms Thornberry was sacked as shadow attorney general on Thursday evening after sparking a social media scandal while campaigning in the Rochester and Strood by-election.

Party leader Ed Miliband was said to be “furious” after she posted a photo of a house which was draped in England flags and had a white van parked outside.

Ms Thornberry came under renewed fire from inside and outside her party as the the row rumbled on over the weekend.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves labelled her actions “condescending and disrespectful” in an interview on the BBC’s Sunday Politics show.

And Labour’s Tottenham MP David Lammy said it showed the party is “culturally adrift from its own traditional working-class base”

But Mr Corbyn told the Star how one of Ms Thornberry’s constituents hand delivered him a heartfelt note for their under-fire MP at his advice surgery on Friday.

“Somebody not from my constituency but from Emily’s came in and wrote me a little note and said ‘please give this to Emily,” Mr Corbyn explained.

“It said: ‘Keep your chin up, you’re a great local MP, we support you. All the best.’

Mr Corbyn added: “The job of Emily and I is to stand up for our borough and all this stuff about Emily’s tweet from Rochester is designed to distract from the real issues which is the poverty created by the Tory government.”