A government minister has refuted claims made by Diane Abbott that the Labour leadership is seeking her removal from the party, following her second suspension related to remarks about racism.
Treasury Minister James Murray stated that it was “absolutely not the case” that Downing Street aimed to oust Abbott.
The veteran MP on the left of the party was suspended this week after expressing that she did not regret “at all” the events surrounding her initial suspension in 2023.
That suspension stemmed from a letter published in a newspaper where she asserted that people of color experience racism “all their lives,” which differed from the “prejudice” faced by Jewish people, Irish individuals, and Travellers.
She subsequently apologized for these remarks following criticism from Jewish and Traveller advocacy groups and was reinstated into the party just before the last general election.
Following her most recent suspension, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington stated, “It is obvious this Labour leadership wants me out.”
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Murray said Labour was adhering to “standard process.”
He added that an internal investigation was underway, and “we now need to let this process play out” to ensure a resolution “as swiftly as possible.”
Out of “respect for Diane,” he emphasized that the investigation should proceed without ministerial interference.
In her interview with Naughtie, recorded in May for BBC Radio 4’s Reflections series, Abbott stated: “Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about color 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 color 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 shared a clip of her BBC interview online after her suspension, simply stating: “This is the clip of my interview.”
The latest suspension means the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP will now sit as an independent MP, effectively losing the party whip, pending the outcome of the investigation into her remarks.
Labour stated that it would not be commenting “while this investigation is ongoing.”
Jacqueline McKenzie, a partner at law firm Leigh Day and a friend of Abbott, argued that the MP’s words were being “weaponized” against “somebody who has spent most of her working life fighting racism, including antisemitism.”
McKenzie told BBC Radio London that Abbott was “making an important point” about race.
In her recent interview, Abbott was “apologizing” for causing offense but standing by her belief that racism is experienced differently by different groups, McKenzie noted.
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 received support from several Labour MPs, primarily from the left wing of the party, including Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Richard Burgon, and Ian Lavery, as well as former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who is now an independent.
In her BBC interview, Abbott was asked if she would condemn antisemitic behavior in the same way she would racist behavior against someone based on their skin color.
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 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 claims of antisemitism often received more urgent attention.
The report stated that Labour’s internal divisions had slowed disciplinary investigations and heard allegations that administrative suspensions were sometimes used strategically to prevent individuals from standing in elections or internal positions.
Listen to James Naughtie’s interview with Diane Abbott on BBC Sounds.
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