Diane Abbott to be banned from standing for Labour

[IwantToRetire]

... 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 She did so in February, having apologised publicly and withdrawn her remarks.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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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^

Breaking news that she has had the whip restored.

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.

Thank you. So she didn't liken antisemitism to the bullying of redheads at all.
She may not be liked by Starmer and others in the party, but she was a dedicated MP for years and didn't deserve to be treated like this.

You seem to have missed out that everyone knows about the letter, I linked to the thread about it.

However, the Labour Party is trying to make out they are competent and properly run organisation, who want to be the Government of this country.

They have a procedure they follow when MPs have complaints made against them.

What is clear is that they way in which they have conducted their enquiry, and not been open about the conclusion, is manipulative.

You and others may well think she should have been automatically expelled, but she wasn't. Therefore presumably you and others wont vote Labour.

But the fact is, if you have procedures and want to be trusted, then you need to follow them and be open about it.

It seems that not unlike other situations, the process becomes the punishment.

She apologised and agreed to attend a course(?).

And Labour didn't say okay now that you have followed our rules we will re-instate you. Or you may have done what we said you should do but we still dont want you so we aren't going to re-instate you.

What hope is there for Labour to be a competent Government if they cant even follow their own rules.

Or will it be like Boris and Covid, do what I say not what I do.

Labour are as trustworthy as a slippery snake.

I absolutely will be voting Labour! Not really quite sure why you'd take that I wouldn't from my posts.

She deserved the investigation because her assertion that, basically, black people suffered more than Jewish people was incredibly anti-semitic. There is no hierarchy of racism.

That said, I'm glad she's had the whip restored, because I believe she's been a great MP for her constituents.

In your opinion. This thread was about the Labour process and what it indicates about them.

There is an existing thread about her letter which if you want to talk about that you could contribute to.

Also worth noting that your response to the letter is your response.

eg others dont agree with you https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/statement/diane-abbott-a-statement-from-jewish-voice-for-labour/

I'll post on whatever thread I like @IwantToRetire

The letter is undoubtedly naive. The way I read it is that she's talking about passing privilege - not necessarily a privilege of course but that's the term and I think it's the point of distinction she's trying to make. Black people are identifiable as such, there is no blending or masking therefore the prejudice is inescapable. Blending, passing, masking whatever you want to call it is a symptom of prejudice and harmful in different way - it can also provide temporary relief - an option that's not there if you're black or brown. It's all insidious but within that there are different experiences that can be acknowledged without diminishing anyone.

If only there was some sort of event in recent history that would demonstrate how Jewish and Roma people experienced wholesale, state-endorsed racism.

That’s how I’ve read it as well. I’m not sure, but I also think her comments may have been made in the context that she had been subject to racism from members of her own party as highlighted by the Forde report and it appears that no action has been taken against these members.

Her treatment has been disgraceful and has left me with a very poor opinion of Starmer.

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/17/labour-accused-still-not-engaging-hierarchy-racism-claims

I was thinking that she’s unwell also.

Had to go -
inexcusable comments she made! Being gassed in a chamber is not the same as someone laughing at your ginger hair!

shes made antisemitic comments and Labour are trying to pretend they're not really antisemitic anymore (they are)

I would prefer a Member with matching shoes.

Having seen interviews with her taken recently and 20 years ago, I strongly suspect that she has lost a bit of mental capacity. Quite a lot to be fair. She sounded amazing 20 years ago, but even 5 years ago she just did not seem at all with it.

Directors of a limited company can have the power to remove a director who is suffering from a lack of mental capacity, so a political party should also have this option. They are probably trying to protect her.

People in Hackney would vote for her if she stood as an Independent but that would have meant a Labour candidate was sure to lose out to her. If the Labour Party reinstate her, they’ll win the seat. I see her being accepted back any minute now…
Maybe I’m cynical 🤔

She should have been banned years ago. She's not fit to be an MP or represent Labour.

She kind of did…..did you not see the bit where she made derogatory remarks about Jews? Which she admitted to? And tbh, Starmer hasn’t actually come out and said she won’t be allowed to stand - it’s only assumed that’s what will happen. I think Starmer is going to have his hands full trying to control Raynor’s wishes for far left policies, without Abbot joining the fold too.

@Myalternate I thought she had been reinstated. Am I , and sky news wrong?