Islington South and Finsbury MP Emily Thornberry has received more than £50,000 in donations from trade unions - more than former prime minister Gordon Brown - since 2010, it emerged this week.

The £50,159 total puts the Shadow Attorney General in the top five for amounts received by Labour MPs since the party’s leader, Ed Miliband, took over.

She sits fourth after Dagenham and Rainham MP Jon Cruddas, who received £210,622, Ed Miliband, who got £169,641 and Shadow Secretary for Wales, Peter Hain, who was in receipt of £55,897.

Last month the Gazette reported how Ms Thornberry welcomed the idea of a near £10,000 hike in MPs’ wages because she was having to use her own money to subsidise her constituency office.

She had said: “It would be nice to have some of my salary sometimes, frankly.

“The volume of expenses I have is higher than most members of parliament, the level of work is much higher than most members of parliament and you won’t find many who have subsidised their offices to the extent I have.”

The total cost of keeping Ms Thornberry in office to the taxpayer for 2011/ 12 – the latest figures available – was £228,484.64, including a basic salary of £65,738.00. The more than £50,000 union donations have been in addition.