Abbott urges Starmer to restore whip and slams Speaker after PMQs snub

Suspended Labour MP Diane Abbott has urged Labour leader Keir Starmer to restore the whip in the wake of a race row involving a Conservative Party donor.

Reported comments by businessman and major Tory donor Frank Hester have sparked uproar this week, with Labour demanding the Tories return funds and prime minister Rishi Sunak eventually dubbing them “racist and wrong”.

The Guardian reported that the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington made him “want to hate all black women” and said “she should be shot”, though Hester’s company has said he was “rude” but it had nothing to do with her gender or “the colour of her skin”.

Abbott, the longest-serving black MP, said she found the reported comments “frightening”.

Several Labour figures, from Brent Central MP Dawn Butler to former shadow chancellor Ed Balls and former Tony Blair adviser John McTernan have called on Labour to end the veteran MP’s suspension from the party.

Abbott also said on Wednesday she had asked Starmer to restore the whip shortly after he raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions and approached her.

Commentator and journalist Owen Jones claimed on X, formerly Twitter, that Starmer approached Abbott offering his support, but refused to commit to restoring the whip. Abbott claimed the account was “true”.

Keir Starmer approached Diane Abbott, conversation overhead went like this:

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do”

“You could restore the whip”

“I understand just let me know if there’s anything..”

“Restore the whip”

“I understand”

— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) March 13, 2024

Labour was not immediately available for comment on the reported conversation. But the Labour leader criticised the comments made by Frank Hester and described Abbott as a “trailblazer” at PMQs.

On social media Abbott and others have also hit out at the Speaker, for not calling on her to speak at PMQs over the row.

She said: “I don’t know whose interests the Speaker thinks he is serving, but it is not the interests of the Commons or democracy.”

A spokesperson for the Speaker’s Office said: “During Prime Minister’s Questions, the Speaker must select MPs from either side of the House on an alternating basis for fairness. This takes place within a limited time frame, with the Chair prioritising Members who are already listed on the Order Paper.

“This week – as is often the case – there was not enough time to call all Members who wanted to ask a question.”

It comes as Middlesborough MP Andy McDonald has the Labour whip restored after an investigation concluded he had “not engaged in conduct that was against the party’s rulebook”.

Abbott was suspended from the Labour Party in April last year after she wrote in The Observer that Jewish people and Travellers do not experience racism as black people do. She later withdrew her comments and apologised. An investigation is still officially ongoing, almost a year later.

The Huffington Post reported earlier today that Labour had “no plans” to end Abbott’s suspension, however. Labour did not respond to request for comment on its plans.

In a statement to The Guardian, The Phoenix Partnership, of which Hester is chief executive, said: “Frank Hester accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin.”