Dianne Abbott - yet again being the subject of abuse by Labour

[IwantToRetire]

Admittedly this was from some time ago, but as with Mandelson, shows that the boys club can do what they like.

But if a woman, let alone a Black woman, is seen to break the rules they are suspended.

What does it say about the Labour Party that making crude and sexually explicit jokes a Black Labour Woman MP is okay?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/diane-abbott-paul-ovenden-messages-labour-keir-starmer-b2826817.html

The abuse Diane Abbott has been subjected to is just abhorrent and repellent.

Once again a member of the Labour Old Boys Network thinks it is perfectly acceptable to be parade his misogyny and racism untouched.

Does this sound like someone who is ashamed of what he was doing:

Mr Ovenden told ITV News he had been involved in 'a silly conversation' eight years ago.

While it is chilling that a private conversation from nearly a decade ago can do this sort of damage, I am also truly, deeply sorry for it and the hurt it will cause,'

Even more disturbing is he worked for the NSPCC. Repellent man but sadly only one of many on the Left, hatred of women is a feature not a bug.

She has undoubtedly received lots of abuse over the years, but is this "by Labour"? It's a bloke employed by labour, but it isn't the party.

Your missing the point.

Over the years it has become more than obvious that the culture within the Labour Party is toxic.

And sadly, over the year's Labour has done nothing to challenge this at best lad culture.

This man was and still had until today influence within the Party.

This is a workplace.

What would you think of your work place if it tolerated the behaviour.

Let alone one whose sanctimonious leader is presuming to say what is and what is not acceptable.

Bunch of hypocrites.

No, you're missing the point. I'm a member of the Labour Party, and I take exception to your claim that the moronic utterances of one toxic gobshite are representative of me or my party. It wasn't "by Labour" and you know it.

Of course it is. He was in the paid employment of the Labour Party.

And he obviously felt able to not only be both racist and sexist towards a women MP but confident enough to encourage young women to join in.

And as such shows that the environment of the Labour Party both as a Party and as an employer has complete disregard for women.

So only when and if the Labour Party, including women who toe the Party line, show respect for women then just maybe the Labour Party wont be labelled what it clearly is.

And as so many who post on FWR are ex Labour because it disrespects women and dont think there will be many echoing your view point.

And in this instance the persistent bullying and disrespect shown to Diane Abbott is the public exhibition that this it true.

Why am I not surprised.
Lefty men, WTF is the matter with you?
When are you going to sort it out?

I don’t always see eye to eye with Diane Abbot but I have a lot of respect for her. By my calculations, she must have stood and won in 9 general elections (since 1987) and I understand she still lives in her constituency. I think she has been treated shamefully by the Labour party over the years,

They're no worse than any other political party. Which is a low bar, granted.

I agree, but I suppose there was and maybe still is an idea that somehow Labour would be better.

And I think this is why, given the number of ex Labour Party members there are on FWR, feel so betrayed.

I think expecting better from Labour men is a fool's errand. I believe I'm quoting Andrea Dworkin here:

"The difference between leftwing and rightwing when it comes to women is only about where exactly on our necks their boots should be placed. To right wing men, we are private property. To left wing men, we are public property. In either case, we are not considered to be humans: We are things."

I'm not a fan of Abbott, but she's been MP for ?Hackney? since 1987 - 38 years, 10 General Elections, re-elected every time with a healthy majority. Labour should be bloody grateful to have her!

I think expecting better from Labour men is a fool's errand.

Personally I agree. I have never been a member. But its clear from some posts on FWR (and women I know IRL) they did on one level think the behaviour in Labour would be better than for instance the Tories.

He was Comms director, he was writing Starmer’s speeches, he was very high in Nr 10, he was no obscure employee whose views didn’t really matter, his views actually mattered a lot into defining and shaping Labour’s action and image.

And he was recounting sexist jokes made at Abbott's expense by several other Labour men playing "Shag, marry, kill" and recounting them later via text to at least a few other female Labour members/staffers. The contempt for Abbott is obvious and the texts have only surfaced now because they have decided to cut down Ovenden. Labour is as sexist as say Trump, it just hides it better.

I know he had an important job, what I mean is that he isn't an MP. He might be writing speeches and trying to give them a good image but he isn't deciding policy.
I'm not saying it doesn't matter that this happened, I'm replying to the ops title that Labour are treating DA badly.

Labour are treating DA badly.

They foster this behaviour.

And show the same lack of respect to women as they did in appointing Mandleson.

The idea that this man who had the jobs he had was not know within the work place as having these attitudes.

Honestly, the idea that women should have to put up with the shit for the greater good of the Party is cringe making.

Not helped by how they treated Rosie Duffield.

If Labour had any respect for women, men like this would not be there, let alone close to Starmer.

To quote Emily Maitlis “Stop putting dodgy men in jobs with huge power”

The comments about Abbott, relayed and endorsed by Ovenden, are not just foul: they also reflect the way in which Black women are routinely dehumanised in this society, and the fact that when that happens, there is little protection. What’s even more striking about the row today is that remarks of this kind are not new, not private and not inconsequential.

There were deeply offensive remarks about Abbott and other women in a leaked Labour report from five years ago, which exposed a toxic environment of bullying, racism and misogyny – yet instead of launching a cleanup, Labour pretty much brushed it all aside. Behaviour that would have been unacceptable in any other professional workplace was effectively normalised.

So when a spokesperson for Downing Street called the messages sent by Ovendon “appalling and unacceptable” in a statement to the press, it just didn’t wash. Labour’s leadership have long known this kind of thing is a problem. In marked contrast, Abbott has been suspended from the party twice over comments about race, having been deemed to be racist despite the MP’s track record of supporting minoritised groups, including Jewish communities, while Labour leaders claim to be taking a hard line against alleged discrimination.

When Martin Forde KC delivered an independent review in 2022, one the party itself commissioned, he confirmed the scale of Labour’s culture problem and offered a roadmap for reform. Rather than taking his findings seriously, the party dismissed them – and, as I exclusively reported, even tried to gag Forde when he spoke out.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/16/labour-paul-ovenden-messages-diane-abbott-racism

So everything people do is their employers fault? Commit murder, lock up the employer? Idiotic suggestion.

Diane was very, very capable of dealing with this shit when I worked for her many years ago. What is shocking to me is that she is still having to deal with it in 2025, even more of it now.

I cannot believe the amount of shit Dianne Abbott gets, not just from scumbags on Twitter, but even apparently from members of her own party. God knows she has said things I don't agree with, but the level of vitriol she gets is unlike anything I see with anyone else and I honestly hope she continues to stand and win her seat just to spite all of them.

I'm also appalled that these type of messages are shared in what should be a professional environment. Imagine having to work with people knowing they talked like that about their colleagues.

Diane Abbot has been targeted for her race and sex for decades. I can’t even count how often I’ve seen horrible stuff written about here on social media - even here on MN!

Shag, Marry, Kill is such a teen sleepover game. I'm guessing there are others now sweating over their hilarious bants messages from years ago. So many overpaid immature wankers in positions of power.

Agree

No one has been targeted like Diane Abbot its a shameful reflection not only on our society but on the Labour party

for many Labour party members we do genuinely want a fairer society and this is why we vote for Labour/are party members as this is the core beliefs of the party is equality. So when once again senior party officials are shown to be racist, sexist, tax dodging, do as I say not do as I do types we absolutely will speak out as we expect better regardless of how other parties and their members behave

Far, far worse than them are Labour Party hypocrites who denounce Tory and Reform racists whilst secretly or openly disrespecting their black and Asian colleagues and members.

That effrontery was theatrically displayed last spring. On 11 March 2024, The Guardian revealed that in 2019, the wealthy Conservative Party donor Frank Hester had said Abbott made him “want to hate all black women” and that “she should be shot”. He apologised for his rudeness but denied the remarks were racist or sexist.

Frightened and upset, Abbott reported him to the police. A righteous Starmer denounced Rishi Sunak’s government in the Commons. Other parliamentarians backed him. Abbott stood up 46 times, but was not called by the Speaker, the Labourite Lindsay Hoyle. They spoke about her but she was not allowed to speak for herself. It was a powerful reminder of what it takes to be Diane Abbott.

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/racism-towards-diane-abbott-worse-from-own-party-3921593

In full at https://archive.is/TNvHE

If you have been an active member of the later party for any length of time you must surely have experienced the misogyny!

Careful, you don’t want t to hear from those of us with lots of experience of Tory and UKIP misogyny. I really don’t think Labour is especially bad in that regard - at least they knew to keep it on the down low. UKIP especially was very loud & proud.