Ed Miliband and his clique of allies a 'Berlin Wall' between Labour and working class voters Labour leader facing mounting fallout over sacking of MP over flag tweet Emily Thornberry posted an image of a house covered in England flags Ex minister Frank Field says it exposed Labour's problem with voters He claimed Mr Miliband and his 'north London set' were harming Labour Rachel Reeves said it had harmed Labour's chances of winning election Comes as London MP David Lammy admits Labour losing core support But Diane Abbott said Miliband's decision to sack her had been a 'mistake' Ed Milibandâ€™s clique of millionaire advisors are acting like a â€˜Berlin Wallâ€™ stopping Labour connecting with ordinary voters, backbench MPs have warned. The Labour leader is facing mounting criticism over his sacking of shadow minister Emily Thornberry over her â€˜snobbyâ€™ tweet of a family home draped in England flags last week. Former welfare minister Frank Field said the incident was â€˜the most serious thing that has happenedâ€™ to Labour - â€˜because it gives vent to what everybodyâ€™s guts are telling them about usâ€™. Labour shadow cabinet minister Rachel Reeves added that the gaffe had harmed Labour's chances of winning the next election. Labour leader Ed Miliband's north London elite which is stopping Labour being in touch with its supporters, claimed Frank Field She said: 'I was angry when I saw it, because I am working hard, as are other Labour MPs and activists around the country, trying to get a Labour government back in six months time and she set that process back.' It came after Mr Field accused the Labour leader of surrounding himself with a clique of wealthy out-of-touch aides and MPs who did not understand ordinary workers. He said: â€˜Itâ€™s the north London set weâ€™ve got to control. They are a Berlin Wall trying to prevent us reaching out to our voters and like the Berlin Wall theyâ€™ve got to be demolished. Mr Field added: â€˜Edâ€™s trying to move us on immigration and welfare and with one blast of a tweet she wrecks that and puts us back to square one. The real problem we have is that thereâ€™s a whole group of them.â€™ His remarks came as fellow Labour MP David Lammy - who grew up on a council estate close to Tottenham's infamous Broadwater Farm â€" said the party had â€˜lost touchâ€™ with ordinary voters. He said: â€˜By and large, modern Labour politicians come from liberal, professional backgrounds. Barking MP Margaret Hodge also appeared to take a swipe at the Labour leader this morning. On your bike: The Labour MP cycling away from her home last week after being ordered by Ed Miliband to resign from the shadow cabinet The Labour frontbencher defended posting the image, claiming she had never seen anything like it White van man Dan Ware arrived home at his house in Rochester after travelling to London to confront Labour MP Emily Thornberry Appearing on the Andrew Marr show, she said politicians â€˜entering politics without having a job outside made it hard for MPs to connect with the publicâ€™. She said: â€˜Alienation from the mainstream political class is huge. And it's not about who we are, it's about our experiences. â€˜So coming into Parliament without having done anything outside politics is not a good route to connecting with people. â€˜And then it's all about how we do our politics, and I think too often we set the political agenda from Westminster and we go to our constituencies and then pronounce.â€™ The Barking MP said there were a number of England flags on houses in her constituency and they often expressed support for the England football team. â€˜What the England flags are all about are a number of, first of all they are about football and don't forget that. And the other thing is we've recaptured the England flag. The English flag has an important tradition in the past but we may have to make it relevent to the present and the future.â€™ But former Labour minister Diane Abbott said Mr Miliband had â€˜made a mistakeâ€™ in sacking Islington South and Finsbury MP Mrs Thornberry. Labour's former welfare minister Frank Field attacked Labour's north London elite â€˜Emily Thornberry is not a snob, she doesn't look down on council tenants,â€™ she told Sky News' Murnaghan programme. â€˜She couldn't hold her seat - which is quite a marginal one - if she didn't do a lot of work with council tenants. She has probably knocked on more council estate doors than many of her critics. â€˜What people don't know is that Emily was tweeting all day from Rochester. She saw it as reportage.â€™ She added: â€˜I think he made a mistake sacking her because apart from anything else it implied she had said something about the man's house, which she hadn't. â€˜But more important I think it made it a bigger story than it otherwise would have been.â€™ However, Mr Milibandâ€™s decision to sack Ms Thornberry was backed by shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves. She Ms Thornberryâ€™s controversial tweet of a house in Rochester adorned with England flags was â€˜condescending and disrespectfulâ€™. â€˜I was out on the doorstep on Thursday when I saw that tweet. I was up in Leeds and I saw it and I thought â€" what is she trying to say? â€˜Because actually when I knock on doors in my constituency and around the country a lot of people work incredibly hard for themselves, running their own businesses, patriotic people who care and love their country. â€˜And I thought Emily was being condescending and disrespectful of the people actually that I went into politics to serve. â€˜So, I think it was right that that she went. What she was suggesting doesnâ€™t represent the values of the Labour party, the ethos and values of the Labour party. â€˜Ed was incredibly angryâ€¦ and I was angry when I saw it, because I am working hard, as are other Labour MPs and activists around the country, trying to get a Labour government back in six months time and she set that process back. â€˜So, he was angry, Labour activists and MPs were angry. And I think it is right that she has gone.â€™ Ms Reeves dismissed comments by Labour MP David Lammy suggesting that the party is â€˜culturally adriftâ€™ from the working classes. â€˜Well, I just donâ€™t think that is true at all. If you look at recent by-election results, Heywood and Middleton for example, we held that seat. â€˜The South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner in very difficult circumstances for Labour, we held that - both traditional Labour areas. And if you look at the polling in some of the key seats that we need to win back in five and a half/ six months time we are ahead there as well.â€™ Ms Reeves admitted that Labour should have done more on immigration when they were in government. â€˜In retrospect we shouldnâ€™t have opened the doors as quickly, so I would go further, not just that we should have made these welfare changes earlier, but we should have had longer transitional controls so we didnâ€™t have the inflows that we had in the 2000s.â€™ Emily Thornberryâ€™s Islington home is at the heart of the liberal eliteâ€™s dinner party circuit. Directly next door is Margaret Hodge, who is expected to seek Labourâ€™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 Â£2.9 million - Â£900,000 above the threshold for Labourâ€™s planned â€˜soak-the-richâ€™ mansion tax. Hodgeâ€™s likely rival, Tessa Jowell, lives a couple of miles north. If Ms Thornberry ever needs to consult Tom Baldwin, one of Ed Milibandâ€™s key advisers, he is only a short stroll away. Mr Miliband can be found two miles away in a Â£2.6million townhouse, not far from his staunch supporter and former Labour leader Neil Kinnock. Notorious Number 10 spin doctor Alastair Campbell has himself a Â£2million property within walking distance, while Milibandâ€™s adviser Stewart Wood is not far away either. Others nearby include Edâ€™s brother David, Lord Falconer, Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt and Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls. Dane Ware, the owner of the house which is worth Â£119,000, has insisted that Ms Thornberry apologise to him over her remarks, but she has so far ducked any meeting with him.