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Diane Abbott to be banned from standing for Labour

208 replies

IwantToRetire · 28/05/2024 19:00

... Diane Abbott will not be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate in the forthcoming general election, in a move that is likely to end her 37-year career in parliament.

The MP for Hackney North & Stoke Newington — the first black woman elected to parliament — has been suspended from the party since April last year and the Labour leadership has concluded that there are no circumstances in which she will stand under its banner on July 4.

An announcement of the party’s position could come as early as today. There are discussions among senior aides to Sir Keir Starmer about restoring her to the Labour whip before the election to allow her to leave politics “with dignity”.

Last week the Labour leader promised a resolution to the case before June 4, his party’s deadline for candidate selection, which falls three days before the legal close of nominations.

On Tuesday morning the BBC reported that the party’s internal investigation into a letter by Abbott to The Observer, in which she likened the discrimination suffered by Jewish people, the Irish and Travellers to the bullying of redheads, had concluded six months ago, without any update on her status as an election candidate.
Abbott, 70, is said to have been issued with a formal warning by the party and was told to complete an “antisemitism awareness course”. She did so in February, having apologised publicly and withdrawn her remarks.

Sources close to the left-wing MP told the BBC that Labour leadership was deliberately “dragging out the process in order to block her from being a candidate at the election”. It is understood that the decision to exclude her is final and will not change even in the event she issues a further apology. ...

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/diane-abbott-mp-labour-general-election-2024-fvgnbprdm

(If this is true, irrespective of the rights and wrongs, that Labour should use such underhand tactics is just disgusting. In other words they could have told her this in February. Can only imagine how they will behave once in Government.)

Can also be read at https://archive.ph/orgiJ

I know there have been other threads but MNHQ search is useless and even searching by google didn't bring them up, except this one which I seem to have started. https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5029371-rally-of-support-for-diane-abbot-in-hackney-called-by-hackney-black-women

Diane Abbott to be banned from standing for Labour

Britain’s first black female MP likely to stand down from parliament after 30 years as party admits inquiry into her suspensions ended months ago

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/diane-abbott-mp-labour-general-election-2024-fvgnbprdm

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CwmYoy · 28/05/2024 19:52

She had a wonderful career for many years but I think she may be unwell.

So many gaffes and she was an embarrassment at the last election.

She should have retired gracefully.

BIWI · 28/05/2024 19:52

Breaking news that she has had the whip restored.

BIWI · 28/05/2024 19:48

This was what she wrote:

From The Observer, 23 April 2023

Tomiwa Owolade claims that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people all suffer from “racism” (“Racism in Britain is not a black and white issue. It’s far more complicated”, Comment). They undoubtedly experience prejudice. This is similar to racism and the two words are often used as if they are interchangeable.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.

In pre-civil rights America, Irish people, Jewish people and Travellers were not required to sit at the back of the bus. In apartheid South Africa, these groups were allowed to vote. And at the height of slavery, there were no white-seeming people manacled on the slave ships.
Diane Abbott
^House of Commons, London SW1^

BIWI · 28/05/2024 19:46

She wasn't treated appallingly. The letter that she wrote to the press was absolutely dreadful.

HermioneWeasley · 28/05/2024 19:43

What she said about Jews was disgusting and she should have been expelled from the party for it, if they’re trying to show they are serious about anti semitism

mach2 · 28/05/2024 19:40

I'm not Abbott's greatest fan but she's been treated badly. Especially weird was the sight of the party leaders talking over her head about Frank Hester's comments about her while she, the target of the remarks, was not given the chance to speak.

TinyYellow · 28/05/2024 19:38

This is another reason not to trust or vote Labour. I never particularly liked Diane Abbott but she didn’t say anything wrong and the way she has been treated is appalling.

Original poster
IwantToRetire · 28/05/2024 19:33

The Guardian understands that the party could make a renewed push to exclude her from standing again for her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat after she liked a post on X by Jeremy Corbyn’s wife, Laura Alvarez, about his decision to stand as an independent candidate.

In the past, Labour has blocked a number of leftwing hopefuls from standing as candidates and suspended party members for expressing support for other political parties.

Although her fate is officially yet to be decided, three Labour activists with links to Abbott’s constituency – Anntoinette Bramble, the deputy mayor of Hackney council; Sem Moema, the London assembly member for North East; and Mete Coban, a Labour councillor for Stoke Newington – have been widely talked about as possible replacements.

Party sources acknowledge the huge amount of support that Abbott has locally and had been hoping to find a civil agreement in which she could “retire with dignity” and not stand for Labour at the next election due to what are termed as health difficulties.

But sources close to Abbott have questioned why her future in the party has been linked to her health, and why she cannot make the decision.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/28/three-labour-names-in-frame-diane-abbott-election

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