Diane Abbott Suspended From Labour
2 min read
Diane Abbott has been suspended from the Labour Party after repeating remarks about how Jews and Black people experience racism.
The Mother of the House had the whip removed in April 2023 after sending a letter to the Observer in which she appeared to suggest that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people did not face racism but instead "prejudice" which was "similar to racism".
Abbott later withdrew her comments. Asked on Wednesday if she regretted her comments, she told the BBC: "No, not at all."
“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 [the background of the person]. 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.”
Abbott earlier this year referred to the Israeli Defence Forces as the 'Jewish Defence Forces', before taking the social media post down.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Diane Abbott has been administratively suspended from the Labour Party, pending an investigation. We cannot comment further while this investigation is ongoing.”
PoliticsHome understands Abbott’s administrative suspension, pending investigation, has the automatic effect of suspending the Labour whip in the House of Commons.
