Starmer had no choice over Abbott, says MP as she faces calls to quit seat

THE Labour leadership had “no choice” but to suspend Diane Abbott from the party after her comments on racism, a shadow minister insisted today, as the veteran MP faced calls to stand down at the next election.

- Rachael Burford

The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP was stripped of the Labour whip after claiming Jewish, Irish and Traveller people were not subject to racism “all their lives”. Shadow chief secretary to the treasury Pat McFadden this morning branded her comments “completely wrong”.

He told Sky News: “It is indisputable that Jewish people, for example, have suffered terrible racism, both in history and it’s still going on today, so the chief whip and the party leader had no choice but to take the action that they took.”

Mr McFadden added that Sir Keir Starmer was “determined to turn the page on some of the culture that had been in the Labour” under previous leader Jeremy Corbyn.

“The [comments] were offensive to people and based on a very wrong idea that there can be some sort of hierarchy when it comes to victims of racism,” he said. “Anyone who has looked at the history will know that Jewish people have suffered the most terrible racism. The history of the 20th century is very obvious.”