Diane Abbott: If not me, who? And if not now, then when?

by Jennifer Painter / @jenpainter

Diane Abbott has written an article in today’s Daily Mirror in which she describes herself as the voice ‘of ordinary Labour supporters’. She discusses her reasons for putting herself forward in the party’s leadership race:

I have been amazed and humbled by the response of the public. People come up to me in the street and shake my hand.

There is a very strong feeling amongst the general public that the political debate at the top of the politics needs to be opened up.

They do not want to see only the same old grey men in suits debating the future of our country. So, ordinary people seem to welcome my candidacy.

There was widespread dismay amongst fellow MPs when it became clear that amongst the front-runners there was no voice from the left and no women candidates at all.

So I am running in response to popular demand.

Abbott continues by stating the distinction between herself and her opponents:

My parents were immigrants from Jamaica. They left school at 14.

My father was a factory worker and my mother was a nurse who gave it up to raise a family.

Through my own efforts and the support of my family I was able to go to Cambridge University. I was the first one in my family to go on to university.

I am a well paid MP. But I am also a single mother who has brought up a son on her own.

These are experiences that reflect the reality of millions of people in Britain.

I would bring a female voice and a mother’s perspective to a range of issues. And this practical perspective is sorely lacking from politics today.

The article also highlights the issues that Abbott feels demand immediate attention from the next Labour leader:

I think party democracy is very important. If Tony Blair had been willing to listen to ordinary members and supporters of the Labour party we would never have gone to war in Iraq. With so many of our brave soldiers dying in Afghanistan, we need to have a debate about what are we doing there, are our soldiers being supported properly and are mothers losing their sons in vain?

I think that there is a important civil liberties debate that we need to have.

I have always stood up for the rights of ordinary people. I think we need to have a discussion in the Labour party about why we allowed the Tory party to take over this agenda?

And there is a very important debate to be had about the economy. The front-runners in the Labour leadership race all assume that, sooner or later, we have to have big cuts in public expenditure to fill the hole in the public balance sheet.

But as an MP from the inner city, I know that these cuts will hit my people twice.

Just as closing the mines devastated many pit villages, big cuts in the public sector could devastate some inner-city areas.

Read the full article here.