Diane Abbott has been suspended from the Labour party for a second time after she declined to retract controversial remarks about racism, as Sir Keir Starmer sought to reassert authority over his backbenchers.
The veteran MP, who became the first black woman elected to parliament, now faces an investigation after telling the BBC that racism based on skin colour was different from prejudice experienced by Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers. She claimed that one could not always tell a Jewish or Traveller person by appearance, whereas colour was visible.
In a statement to Newsnight on Thursday evening, Abbott said the Labour leadership wanted her out and that her comments were “factually correct”. She had first made similar remarks in a letter to the Observer in 2023, for which she apologised and was readmitted after a lengthy investigation.
The latest suspension came as Starmer also removed the whip from four Labour MPs who had repeatedly voted against the government on welfare reform. He defended the decision at a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, saying he would not be “deflected” from his mission to reform Britain.
The move drew anger from left-wing figures within the party. John McDonnell called it “extremely bizarre” that Abbott was suspended while no action was taken over the use of Enoch Powell’s language in a recent speech by Starmer. Shami Chakrabarti said those writing “island of strangers” speeches should be slow to judge Abbott, while Angela Rayner expressed disappointment and insisted there was “no place for antisemitism” in Labour.
