Labour is in a quandary over Diane Abbott

These are angry times but some politicians, almost all women, have been under unjustifiable attack for decades. 

Diane Abbott is used to being mistreated. Elected to parliament nine times since she became Britain’s first black female MP in 1987, she is the most abused member of the House.  

In the past week, she has suffered further insult. First, it was alleged that the businessman Frank Hester, who has donated over ten million pounds to the Conservative Party, told colleagues that she made him want to “hate all black women” and she “should be shot”.

Next, at Prime Minister’s questions, the Speaker denied Abbott the chance to have her say, as Sunak and Starmer mansplained whether what had been said about her was racist and sexist and whether the Tories should accept Hester’s cash.

Abbott’s treatment has aroused great sympathy. The Labour leader was one of the first to go over to her after PMQs. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do?” He asked solicitously. “Restore the whip” she replied several times. 

The irony of this vulnerable, seventy-year-old lady’s position is that she is currently facing likely political oblivion because of her own race-related comments. In a letter to The Observer last April she wrote that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people “undoubtedly experience prejudice…similar to racism” but that it is not comparable to the historic racism experienced by black people. “It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice.” She conceded, “But they are not all their lives subject to racism.”

The Labour Party judged her comments, seemingly downplaying the suffering of Jewish people among others, to be “deeply offensive and wrong”. Abbott was suspended from the party pending an investigation. She joined her friend, former lover, and neighbouring MP, Jeremy Corbyn in limbo. Unless they have the whip restored neither will be able to stand as Labour Party candidates at the fast-approaching general election.

Sir Keir Starmer has already ruled out any restoration for his predecessor as party leader. Corbyn’s tenure resulted in the party being investigated and criticized for antisemitism by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Corbyn was kicked out for saying the problem was exaggerated and refusing to respect new and tougher regulation by the party.

Abbott immediately apologised “for any anguish caused”. The investigation into her has dragged on for nearly a year, far longer than other recent inquiries into suspended MPs. It is difficult not to feel that the Labour leadership was hoping the clock would run down to the election with her position still unresolved. That would allow for another Labour candidate to be chosen and almost certainly hold her safe Labour seat of Hackney North and Stoke Newington. Reconciliation and the offer of a seat in the House of Lords might have been possibilities after that. 

The shocking revelations of the past week have led to calls for a quick resolution now and her re-admittance into Labour. All of which leaves Sir Keir Starmer and other prominent members of the party in an awkward quandary what to do about her.

Along with Bernie Grant and Paul Boateng, Di Abbott was among the first Black British MPs elected to parliament. She has always been on the left of the party. But she has never defined herself by her race or her politics. She is an outspoken loner who has socialized across the political spectrum and has always done her own thing. 

She is the daughter of parents from Jamaica in the Windrush generation. She attended Harrow County Gramar School, where she got to know the youthful Conservative Cabinet Minister Michael Portillo. He would later join her for irreverent late night commentary on Andrew Neil’s show This Week. Next, she went to the elite Newham College at Cambridge University. In parliament, she struck up a friendship with her Tory pair Jonathan Aitken, and made him godfather to her son – who she, defiantly, sent to a private school in London. 

Di was the first person I met when I turned up for work on my first day in British television in 1983. “You look like a banker”, was her greeting, typical of her abrasive charm. At TV-am, she mainly busied herself at the back of the newsroom, answering correspondence relating to her role as a member of Westminster Council. When challenged at an annual review about her disappointing contribution to the channel, she was said to have replied to her bosses: “What do you expect when I have to work for ****ers like you?”. At the studio in Camden Lock, relief mingled with pride when she was elected. For decades afterwards, whenever we came across each other at Westminster, she would upbraid me for having “appalling table manners” (Not guilty, your honour).

Abbott was a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee from 1994-1997 but she was not in sympathy with Tony Blair’s new Labour. She came fifth and last in Labour’s 2010 leadership contest, not before her sharp and imperious tongue had written off her opponents – the Miliband brothers, Andy Burnham and Ed Balls – as “geeky men in suits”.

Ed Miliband graciously appointed her as a shadow spokesperson. Last week, Balls said “she should be brought back… she should be supported and defended rather than left on her own.”

Jeremy Corbyn promoted her to his Shadow Cabinet in 2015. She was not a success as Shadow Home Secretary and was said to be unwell after a shambolic interview with Nick Ferrari on LBC, where she appeared to have no idea how much Labour’s policy to add 10,000 more police officers would cost. The years have taken their toll. Abbitt has incurable diabetes and the diplomat son she brought up as a single parent has suffered serious mental health episodes. Far from the wit, intelligence and openness which used to characterize her in debate “she now addresses the electorate as if it is a slow-witted child”, in the words of The Times columnist Janice Turner. 

Expressions of sympathy from senior Labour figures seldom go as far as explicitly saying she must be given back the whip. Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner says, “Personally, I would like to see her back but the Labour Party has its procedures, what I say doesn’t matter.” Harriet Harman would be “sad” if she is not readmitted to the party. The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting have both merely expressed vague “solidarity” with her.

Sir Keir Starmer has already spelt out that restoring the whip is “an entirely different matter” from the abuse she has taken. Were Labour to accept that a quick apology was enough, it would undermine their attack that the Tories should give back Hester’s millions. Hester has also offered an apology of sorts. 

Di remains an icon and inspiration to the next generations of black and female politicians. Many would not be there without her example and determination. The saddest thing about this end phase of Di Abbott’s brave political career is that her future is being determined by what others, mostly white men, think about her. 

Write to us with your comments to be considered for publication at letters@reaction.life