Diane Abbott suspended from Labour again
Diane Abbott has been suspended from the Labour Party after she doubled down on comments about Jews in a letter to The Observer that previously got her suspended from the Party.
The letter, published in 2023, was in response to an article in The Observer by Tomiwa Owolade, which commented on a new report on ethnic inequality that revealed that “Irish, Jewish and Traveller people are among the most abused.”
When asked in an interview with James Naughtie on BBC Radio 4 if she looked back on the letter with regret, Ms Abbott responded: “No, not at all.”
She also said: “Clearly, there must be a difference between racism, which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don’t know. You don’t know unless you stop to speak to them or you’re in a meeting with them. But if you see a black person walking down the street, you see straight away that they’re black. They are different types of racism.”
In her letter in 2023, Ms Abbott wrote: “Tomiwa Owolade claims that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people all suffer from ‘racism’. 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.”
Following an outcry, Ms Abbott issued a retraction, writing: “I wish to wholly and unreservedly withdraw my remarks and dissociate myself from them. The errors arose in an initial draft being sent. But there is no excuse, and I wish to apologise for any anguish caused. Racism takes many forms, and it is completely undeniable that Jewish people have suffered its monstrous effects, as have Irish people, Travellers and many others. Once again, I would like to apologise publicly for the remarks and any distress caused as a result of them.”
The Labour Party suspended Ms Abbott at the time, before eventually reinstating her.
Of the suspension, Ms Abbott said in an interview on Newsnight: “It is obvious this Labour leadership wants me out.”
A spokesperson for the Labour Party said: “Diane Abbott has been administratively suspended from the Labour Party, pending an investigation. We cannot comment further while this investigation is ongoing.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Diane Abbott has been suspended for doubling down on comments for which she was previously suspended. Does that make sense to anybody? Two yellow cards is a red in our book. Ms Abbott has obviously not learned a thing from her previous suspension. There is no reason to believe she will from this one. She must be expelled.”
