Abbott says she advised Corbyn not to start a new political party

Diane Abbott has said she advised her longtime friend Jeremy Corbyn not to launch a new political party because she believed it would struggle to make inroads under the first-past-the-post system.

- Aletha Adu

Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington in London, said last month that she would not be leaving Labour in favour of Corbyn's party, despite the pair having worked closely together in the past. Speaking at the Edinburgh book festival in conversation with the campaigner Talat Yaqoob, Abbott confirmed she had spoken to Corbyn before the party's launch to warn him against it.

"There were people around Jeremy encouraging him to set up a new party and I told him not to," she said. "It's very difficult under the first-past-the-post system for a new party to absolutely win. If it wasn't first past the post then you can see how a new party could come through, but I understand why he did it."