Diane Abbott suspended by Labour for second time

Diane Abbott has been suspended from the Labour party for a second time after saying she did not regret her controversial past remarks on racism, as Keir Starmer once again attempted to reassert his grip over his backbenchers.

- Pippa Crerar Aletha Adu Eleni Courea

The MP now faces an investigation over her defence of her remarks more than two years ago that people of colour experienced racism "all their lives", which was different from the "prejudice" experienced by Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers.

In an interview with the BBC yesterday, Abbott, the first black woman elected to parliament in the UK, 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.

"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. I don't know why people would say that."

The suspension was the latest sign that the prime minister intends to take a tougher approach to party discipline in the wake of being forced into a U-turn over controversial welfare cuts following a huge rebellion by his MPs.

He insisted yesterday that he would not be "deflected" from his mission to reform Britain after suspending the whip from four Labour MPs who had repeatedly voted against the government, including on welfare reform legislation.

Starmer said the suspensions of Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff were not just about a single vote but the result of "repeatedly breaking the whip" and undermining Labour's ability to deliver on its mandate for change.

At a joint press conference with German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, Starmer was asked whether punishing the MPs made him look weak.

"Look, we were elected to change this country for the better, and that means we've got to carry through that change, and we've got to carry through reforms, because we inherited a broken economy and broken public services," he replied.