Political reporter
UK ParliamentA government minister has rejected Diane Abbott’s claim that the Labour leaderhip wants her out of the party after she was suspended for a second time over comments about racism.
Treasury Minister James Murray said it was “absolutely not the case” Number 10 wanted to remove Abbott.
The veteran left winger was previously suspended by Labour over a 2023 letter to a newspaper in which she said people of colour experienced racism “all their lives”, which was different from the “prejudice” experienced by Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers.
She apologised for those remarks at the time after criticism from Jewish and Traveller groups and was readmitted to the party after a long suspension.
Her latest suspension was prompted by an interview with the BBC’s James Naughtie, broadcast on Thursday, in which she said she did not regret the 2023 incident.
The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP said it “is obvious this Labour leadership wants me out”.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Murray said Labour were following “standard process”.
He added that there was an internal investigation and “we now need to let this process play out” so it can be resolved “as swiftly as possible”
Out of “respect for Dianne” the investigation should be allowed to continue without ministers interfering, he added.
In her interview with Naughtie, which was recorded in May for the new series of BBC Radio 4’s Reflections, Abbott said: “Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism, because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don’t know.
“You don’t know unless you stop to speak to them or you’re in a meeting with them.
“But if you see a black person walking down the street, you see straight away that they’re black. They are different types of racism.”
She added: “I just think that it’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism.”
In a brief statement issued to BBC Newsnight, Abbott said: “My comments in the interview with James Naughtie were factually correct, as any fair-minded person would accept.”
Abbott also posted a clip online of her BBC interview after news of her suspension emerged, writing only: “This is the clip of my interview.”
The latest suspension means the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP will sit as an independent MP, known as losing the whip, pending an investigation into her remarks.
Labour said it would not be commenting “while this investigation is ongoing”.
Jacqueline McKenzie, partner in law firm Leigh Day and friend of Abbott, said the MPs words were being “weaponised” against “somebody who has spent most of her working life, fighting racism, including antisemitism”.
McKenzie told BBC Radio London Abbott was “making an important point” about race.
In her latest interview Abbott was “apologising” for causing offence but standing by her belief that racism was experienced differently by different groups, McKenzie said.
On Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told the Guardian newspaper: “There’s no place for antisemitism in the Labour Party, and obviously the Labour Party has processes for that.
“Diane had reflected on how she’d put that article together, and said that ‘was not supposed to be the version’, and now to double down and say ‘Well, actually I didn’t mean that. I actually meant what I originally said’, I think is a real challenge.”
Abbott has been defended by several Labour MPs, mostly from the left of the party, including Richard Burgon and Ian Lavery, as well as former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell – who now sits as an independent.
In her BBC interview, Abbott was asked if she would condemn antisemitic behaviour in the same way she would racist behaviour against someone because of the colour of their skin.
She replied: “Well of course, and I do get a bit weary of people trying to pin the antisemitic label on me because I’ve spent a lifetime fighting racism of all kinds and in particular fighting antisemitism, partly because of the nature of my constituency.”
Abbott is the longest-serving female MP in the Commons, having entered Parliament in 1987.
She said she was “grateful” to be a Labour MP in the BBC interview, but that she was sure the party leadership had been “trying to get me out”.
A 2022 investigation into the Labour party by senior lawyer Martin Forde KC found investigations into cl aims of antisemitism often received more urgent attention.
The report said Labour’s factionalism had slowed disciplinary investigations and heard allegations administrative suspensions were sometimes used strategically to block individuals from standing in elections or internal positions.
Listen to James Naughtie’s interview with Diane Abbott on BBC Sounds.
