Abbott suspended by Labour Party after comments about racism

MP Diane Abbott has been suspended by the Labour Party pending an investigation into comments she made about racism, the BBC understands.

The move also means that Abbott will sit as an independent MP, known as losing the whip.

Labour said it would not be commenting "while this investigation is ongoing".

It comes after a BBC interview where Abbott was asked about a 2023 controversy, when she was suspended as a Labour MP for a year after comments she made about racism in a letter to a newspaper.

Asked by the BBC's James Naughtie if she looked back on the whole incident with regret, she said: "No, not at all."

In that letter to the Observer newspaper, she wrote that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people "undoubtedly experience prejudice" that is "similar to racism".

She wrote: "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."

Abbott was quick to withdraw the remarks, which were heavily criticised by Jewish and Traveller groups, and apologised "for any anguish caused".

But she was suspended from the party and only re-admitted just before last year's general election.

In the latest interview, she 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."

She added: "I just think that it's silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism."

Abbott posted a clip online of her BBC interview after news of her suspension emerged, writing only "This is the clip of my interview" and did not respond to requests for comment at that time.

She later gave a brief statement to BBC Newsnight, which said: "It is obvious this Labour leadership wants me out.

"My comments in the interview with James Naughtie were factually correct, as any fair-minded person would accept."

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told the Guardian newspaper: "There's no place for antisemitism in the Labour Party, and obviously the Labour Party has processes for that.

"Diane had reflected on how she'd put that article together, and said that 'was not supposed to be the version', and now to double down and say 'Well, actually I didn't mean that. I actually meant what I originally said', I think is a real challenge."

Former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell posted on X to defend his colleague.

He said: "Before people, including Labour Party spokespersons, comment or decide upon Diane Abbott's fate, could I suggest that they actually listen to Diane's interview on BBC Reflections in which she forthrightly condemns antisemitism & discusses the different forms of racism."

In her BBC interview, Abbott was asked if she would condemn antisemitic behaviour in the same way she would racist behaviour against someone because of the colour of their skin.

She replied: "Well of course, and I do get a bit weary of people trying to pin the antisemitic label on me because I've spent a lifetime fighting racism of all kinds and in particular fighting antisemitism, partly because of the nature of my constituency."

The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP is the longest-serving female MP in the Commons, having entered Parliament in 1987.

She said she was "grateful" to be a Labour MP in the BBC interview, but that she was sure the party leadership had been "trying to get me out".

Listen to James Naughtie's interview with Diane Abbott on BBC Sounds.