Posted by Notice: Function WP_HTML_Tag_Processor::set_attribute was called incorrectly. Invalid attribute name. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.2.0.) in /var/www/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6085
Notice: Function WP_HTML_Tag_Processor::set_attribute was called incorrectly. Invalid attribute name. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.2.0.) in /var/www/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6085
Diane Abbott has had the Labour whip restored – but has been blocked from standing for the party at the general election.
The veteran MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington was suspended by the party in April last year amid allegations of anti-Semitism.
She had written a letter to The Observer suggesting that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people are not subject to racism “all their lives”.
Abbott apologised on X and withdrew her remarks, but remained ostracised by the party despite calls from her supporters for the whip to be restored.
BBC Newsnight revealed on Tuesday that Labour finished its investigation into her conduct five months ago, but publicly claimed that the disciplinary process was still ongoing.
Labour’s National Executive Committee wrote to Abbott in December issuing her with a “formal warning” for “engaging in conduct that was “prejudicial and grossly detrimental” to the party.
At the committee’s request, Abbott then completed an “online e-learning module” in February.
It is understood that Abbott, who was the first black woman to be elected to parliament when she became an MP in 1983, finally had the Labour whip restored earlier today.
However, a senior party source told HuffPost UK that she will not be a Labour candidate at the election on July 4.
Abbott served as shadow home secretary when Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader, but has been a vocal critic of Keir Starmer.
