A SENIOR Labour backbencher has warned that the party is "culturally adrift" from its own core supporters in the wake of the Rochester snobbery row.

David Lammy, a London mayoral hopeful and former Universities Minister, said politicians from "liberal, professional backgrounds" found it hard to identify with ordinary working people.

His intervention comes as Ed Miliband struggles to draw a line under the furore that forced Emily Thornberry's resignation as Shadow Attorney General last week. The Labour leader has undertaken a media offensive to insist his party still represents ordinary, working people. Ms Thornberry tweeted a picture of a house covered with three St George flags and a white van parked outside. The image, taken while she was campaigning for the by-election in Rochester and Strood, was widely interpreted as sneering at the family who lived there.

Labour came third in the contest and victor Ukip is threatening to make inroads into the party's traditional heartlands elsewhere.

But Mr Lammy stressed his colleague's tweet was merely a symptom. "The Labour Party feels culturally adrift, not just from large parts of Britain but from its own traditional working class base," he declared.

"Large parts of the country feel that Labour not only disagrees with them, they think we disapprove of them too."

The MP, who grew up on a council estate close to Tottenham's infamous Broadwater Farm, argued Labour's "discomfort hinges on immigration". He explained: "By and large, modern Labour politicians come from liberal, professional backgrounds. They have benefited from globalisation; they mix in social circles with people who work in multinational firms, enjoy foreign travel and find diversity enriching. Much of Labour's traditional electoral base does not feel this way."

Diane Abbott, his Labour colleague, said Mr Miliband had "made a mistake" in sacking fellow London MP Ms Thornberry, making the story bigger than it otherwise would have been.