Labour leader Ed Miliband expressed his anger with one of his closest allies yesterday after she was forced to resign for posting a “disrespectful” picture on social media relating to the Rochester and Strood by-election.

Emily Thornberry was forced to quit as shadow attorney general after her image on Twitter (pictured) of a house draped in England flags with a white van parked outside with the message “Image from Rochester” provoked a storm of protest.

Mr Miliband said Ms Thornberry was right to resign as she had been disrespectful to the family who live in the house, but added that he did not think she had intended to sneer at them.

Speaking on Sky News, Mr Miliband said: “I was angry because I thought her tweet gave a misleading impression when she photographed a house in which the family lived that somehow Labour had the wrong view of that family.

“It’s not the view we have of that family. Labour’s never had that view of disrespect and I’m afraid her tweet conveyed a sense of disrespect — that’s not my view, that’s not Labour’s view, it’s wrong, it never will be our view and that’s why I think it was right she resigned.”

Leaving her constituency home in Islington, north London, Ms Thornberry again apologised for any offence she had caused.

“It appears that I got it wrong. I made a mistake. I have resigned. If I have upset anyone or insulted anybody, I apologise,” she told waiting reporters.

Ms Thornberry, 54, entered Parliament as MP for Islington South and Finsbury in 2005 and served as shadow energy and health spokeswoman before taking the role of shadow attorney general in 2011.