Diane Abbott has suggested that “people around” Labour leader Keir Starmer are “digging in” against her getting the party whip back.
In an article for The Guardian newspaper published on Wednesday evening, Abbott insisted that “all the indications are that the people around him are digging in against any suggestion that I should have the whip restored”.
The former shadow home secretary under Jeremy Corbyn spoke to Starmer after prime minister’s questions on Wednesday and reportedly pushed him to reinstate the whip.
Political commentator Owen Jones posted on X/Twitter his understanding of the exchange, which was later confirmed by the former Labour MP.
Jones said that the Labour leader told Abbott “let me know if there’s anything I can do”, and that she responded by telling him “you could restore the whip”.
Abbott has been sitting in the House of Commons as an independent MP since April 2023, when she had the Labour whip suspended pending an investigation.
It came after the MP wrote a letter suggesting Jewish people are not subjected to the same racism as some other minorities.
Abbott apologised over the comments and said the letter published in The Observer had been an “initial draft” sent by mistake.
Abbott’s letter stated that Jewish, Irish and traveller communities have experienced “prejudice”, but added: “This is similar to racism and the two words are often used as if they are interchangeable.
In a piece for The Guardian, the former shadow home secretary said: “Starmer did refer to me in PMQs but all the indications are that the people around him are digging in against any suggestion that I should have the whip restored.
“It will be both sad and strange if Starmer throws Britain’s first black woman MP out of the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] because of an eight-line letter, for which I immediately apologised. But the most important thing is that the Labour party holds fast to its anti-racist tradition.”
It comes as calls are growing for Rishi Sunak to return £10 million donated by Frank Hester, who allegedly said that Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving black MP, should be “shot”.
According to The Guardian, he also said Abbott made him “want to hate all black women”.
After the publication of Hester’s remarks earlier this week, a statement from a spokesperson said he “accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”. The statement said Hester abhorred racism, “not least because he experienced it as the child of Irish immigrants in the 1970s”.
The statement added: “He rang Diane Abbott twice [on Monday] to try to apologise directly for the hurt he has caused her, and is deeply sorry for his remarks. He wishes to make it clear that he regards racism as a poison which has no place in public life.”
Ministers and No 10 spent 24 hours refusing to say Hester’s remarks were racist until after the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, broke ranks to say they were, late on Tuesday afternoon.
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