Diane Abbott suspended again …

[ANagsHead]

https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-starmer-small-boat-crossings-macron-state-visit-the-king-12593360?postid=9893694#liveblog-body

I listened to the interview this morning; it was - measured. (Though I held my breath.)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002fwpv

Newspaper headlines:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/17/labour-suspends-diane-abbott-for-second-time-over-racism-comments

Labour suspends Diane Abbott for repeating race comments

https://www.thetimes.com/article/9e5754cd-b4ad-4fea-97f0-ed05dd1da767?shareToken=0d43e15d48bc1c33af77af00923d5ced

12 MP's suspended or had the whip removed in a little over a year in government. A this rate we won't need an election in 2029 because Starmer is going to destroy his majority all by himself.

Hopefully she has the sense to bail on this fraud of a Labour Party and go sit with Corbyn and Sultana.

It’s fucking ridiculous. She didn’t say anything remotely offensive.

She will definitely join JC I reckon. KS cannot keep just suspending those who disagree. He needs to look at what’s happening internally and work out what direction he is going in.

The very saddest part of that interview was when she casually remarked that she’d never been a minister or anything …

I could hardly believe my ears. I know she’s been a shadow minister, but … Such intense disrespect for this woman, across decades.

(Full disclosure; I am also a Black woman. Also with an Oxbridge degree from a time when that was pretty singular.)

I think it’s more about what she didn’t say, than what she did. She is right that there may not be the sort of everyday racism a person experiences on an individual level, but she should have clarified that with the fact that other groups do still face a great deal of prejudice.

She's bloody right. Those of us with melanated skin can't blend in. We stick out like sore thumbs and that makes us a target at every point in our lives, from walking down the street to going for job interviews. We can't 'pass' as white.
There is a hierarchy of racism.

I agree with you and with Diane Abbott too.

When would she have been a minister though? She was a shadow minister while Labour were out of power but she was unlikely to be made a minister after the last GE.

I know, @Zonder - but it seems like so many years of thankless work. Absolutely no reward, beyond the gratitude of some of her constituents.

(The backlash over sending her son to an independent school is exactly the same. Of course she needed to think what was best for him, because her life wasn’t the same as her White fellow MPs.)

‘Not remotely offensive’ to say Jews didn’t have to sit at the back of the bus? Thats right Diane - 6 million of them weren’t sitting at the back of the bus in the 60’s - they’d been gassed to death in concentration camps 20 years earlier in the largest genocidal act of racism the world has ever seen. But you know, fucking ridiculous right?

This 👏

Yes, absolutely this.

6 million Jews were murdered. That's a truth.

But black people in the UK today experience an unescapable racism at all times, because of the visual difference, in a way that Jews do not. That's also a truth.

I agree with Diane Abbott on this. But I also understand that it's impolitic to say it. I don't know why she repeated it. I can only guess she wants to join Jeremy.

I agree with previous posters and Diane Abbott. You can’t hide in plain sight if you are black, not right, not good but true

I don't agree with DA's political views but I think the way the Labour party has treated her is dreadful. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't join Corbyn and Sultana. She will win her seat again whichever party she stands for. KS has no respect for what she has achieved as a black woman who has lived decades in a hostile environment.

I don’t think she can have repeated it unthinkingly, no.

So it would be interesting to know what discussion there was with James Naughtie before recording began. Was there a plan to re-state her position?

There is a difference between saying that the way in which one group is able to respond to racism and the impact that might have may be different from another (which is true) and saying that “the racism” itself a black person experiences is different - essentially, worse than that of another group. The latter creates a hierarchy of racism when racism is racism is racism. Antisemitism is not subtle or minor and, as has already been pointed out on this thread, led to the murder of millions of Jews. The fact that many Jews can “pass” as part of the majority should not be used to undermine this. It didn’t help those millions that they “looked white”, they were considered as non-white as any human could be.

I have a lot of time for what Diane Abbott has done over her long tenure as an MP, in particular as a trailblazer for black women in politics. But considering her long fight against racism she really should get the difference and be able to articulate it properly, particularly considering what happened the first time she made the same statement.

Diane Abbot is MP for Hackney which has the biggest Orthodox Jewish population probably in all of Europe. Most of them are Hasidic and very obviously Jewish and are the subject of anti semitic attacks all the time. Being that she should be aware of that, her comment was stupid at best.

She should not have stoked the fire again with an issue that was clearly raw with many people.

The vast majority of people who elected these MPs just want to see them get on with much more important relevant, everyday matters (crime, cost of living, job security).
It seems so many going into politics now want to make a statement, cause a conflict and hear their own voice.

I agree. I'm white and Irish - I can hide this quite easily.
A friend's Irish mother took elocution lessons to hide her accent. Try doing that with skin colour.

How could she be a minister? She was always voting against her own government. A minister has to be part of the collective responsibility of cabinet/government but she chose to play the role of maverick. She was never a Blair supporter and he was prime minister. Ed Miliband put her on the shadow front bench and when he sacked her she said she planned 'to enjoy being a free agent on the backbenches even more.' Maybe we should respect her words?

What good can come of trying to codify a hierarchy of racism though? Racism is bad, that’s it. This can only foster division. It’s race to the bottom stuff.

i think politicians should be making proactive steps to make life better for everyone they represent, not arguing about which group has it worse.

Exactly. What she said was wrong. She's had loads of time to think about it it. She said it again at a time when antisemitism is through the roof. Somehow those racists seem to find ways of identifying Jewish people.

I respect Diane Abbott for all that she has achieved in a white male world.
However, I think that trying to make these points about a hierarchy of racism is just pointless, and a distraction. We all know that antisemitism has risen significantly the last couple of years, and should be of concern to all of us.
Racism generally is on the rise, and the latest attacks on an asylum seekers' hotel just underline that.
I just wish she didn't say these things, which just create controversy and bitter division.