Diane Abbott, Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, has been suspended by the Labour Party pending an investigation into comments regarding racism, according to reports from the BBC.
This action effectively results in Abbott sitting as an independent MP, a consequence known as losing the party whip.
The Labour Party has stated it will refrain from commenting “while this investigation is ongoing.”
The suspension follows a recent BBC interview where Abbott was questioned about a 2023 controversy, stemming from her initial suspension as a Labour MP for a year after comments made in a letter to a newspaper.
When asked by the BBC’s James Naughtie if she regretted the incident, she responded, “No, not at all.”
In the letter to the Observer newspaper, Abbott had asserted that Irish, Jewish, and Traveller people “undoubtedly experience prejudice” that is “similar to racism.”
She further wrote, “It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism.”
Abbott swiftly retracted the remarks, which drew considerable criticism from Jewish and Traveller advocacy groups, and issued an apology “for any anguish caused.”
However, she was suspended from the party and only readmitted shortly before the general election last year.
In the recent interview, she stated: “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.”
Following the news of her suspension, Abbott posted a clip of her BBC interview online, stating only “This is the clip of my interview” and initially declined to comment further.
She later provided a brief statement to BBC Newsnight, saying: “It is obvious this Labour leadership wants me out.”
“My comments in the interview with James Naughtie were factually correct, as any fair-minded person would accept.”
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.”
Former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell defended Abbott on X.
He said: “Before people, including Labour Party spokespersons, comment or decide upon Diane Abbott’s fate, could I suggest that they actually listen to Diane’s interview on BBC Reflections in which she forthrightly condemns antisemitism & discusses the different forms of racism.”
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 House of Commons, having been elected to Parliament in 1987.
She expressed her “gratitude” for being a Labour MP in the BBC interview, but indicated her belief that the party leadership had been “trying to get me out.”
Listen to James Naughtie’s interview with Diane Abbott on BBC Sounds.
The PM argues MPs “elected on a Labour manifesto” should back the government’s plans.
Senior officials say the sackings came after repeated organising against the government.
Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchliff and Rachael Maskell all voted against welfare reforms.
Brian Leishman has lost the whip after repeatedly criticising Sir Keir Starmer’s government.
Blake Stephenson says the “narrative of builders v blockers” is putting people’s “back-up”.