Dan Ware arriving home at his house in Rochester. It was pictured in a tweet by Emily Thornberry which caused her to resign from her position as shadow attorney general. Photograph: PA

Ware, a 37-year-old car trader and father of four, told The Sun: “I’ve not got a clue who she is, but she’s a snob”.

“We put the flags up for the World Cup and will continue to fly them”

Referring to Thornberry, he said: “She’s a snob. What’s she got, a three-storey townhouse in Islington? These flags can be found anywhere you look.”

Ware was interviewed by the Sun, Mail and Telegraph after the tweet, telling them he had voted Conservative in the last election and did not know there was now a byelection on.

“The picture shouldn’t be took. She should ask first because the registration number is in the picture,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying. “I will continue to fly the flags – I don’t care who it pisses off. I know there is a lot of ethnic minorities that don’t like it. They have been up since the World Cup.”

Since an initial interview, Ware has only been talking publicly to the Sun. On Friday the van driver visited Thornberry’s multi-million-pound Islington residence, and was photographed outside on her doorstep with Sun-branded England flag. While Thornberry was in the House of Commons voting on Labour’s health service legislation, Ware knocked on the door while being filmedand asked for a personal apology.