Diane Abbott has accused Sir Keir Starmer of treating her as a 'non-person' following comments by Conservative donor Frank Hester, who said she 'should be shot' and that looking at her made 'you just want to hate all black women'. The veteran Labour MP said she expected more support from her party after the remarks, which were revealed by the Guardian.
Speaking to BBC Two's Newsnight, Abbott said she was frightened by the comments, noting that two MPs had been killed in recent years. 'One of the reasons it made me frightened is two MPs have been killed in recent years,' she said, referring to Jo Cox and David Amess. She added that comments like Hester's 'wind up a certain sort of nutcase and makes you more vulnerable'.
Abbott said the Labour leader 'never reached out to me personally and did treat me as a non-person'. She told ITV's Lorraine: 'My friends came round, but my friends have always been terribly supportive. Sadly, I didn't get much support from Keir Starmer … I was a little bit hurt because if you are threatened with death, you expect your party to come round.'
The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP, who was suspended from the party over a letter about racism and prejudice, said she believed the suspension was used as a device to prevent her standing as a candidate. 'I think that Keir Starmer wanted to finish his clearout of the left in the parliamentary Labour party and by writing a very ill-advised letter I gave him the opportunity to move against me,' she said.
Abbott also repeated claims that she was indirectly offered a deal via a third party to stand down before the election, which she rejected, saying it 'was designed to humiliate me'. Hester has apologised for his remarks, describing them as 'rude', but said his criticism had nothing to do with her gender or skin colour.
