Diane Abbott: Keir Starmer ‘forced to back down’ as he says she’s ‘free’ to stand

Keir Starmer has said that veteran MP Diane Abbott is “free to go forward as a Labour candidate”, in a momentous party rowback in the middle of the general election campaign.

It comes after days of speculation about whether the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington would be barred from being the Labour candidate for the constituency.

Karl Hansen, co-editor of Tribune magazine, said it showed Starmer had been “forced to back down” by Abbott’s defiance, amid a widespread outcry over Abbott’s treatment after a long suspension.

Another Westminster journalist dubbed Starmer’s the “first big unforced error” of the campaign, at odds with years of leadership success in their efforts to take on the left of the party.

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Abbott had been suspended last year from the party over comments made in a letter to The Observer which suggested  Jewish, Irish and Traveller communities did not “all their lives” experience racism as Black people do.

The whip was restored earlier this week, but no decision was announced about whether Abbott would be picked as Labour’s candidate for the constituency – yet a briefing emerged suggesting she would be barred.

Speaking to broadcasters today however, the Labour leader said that Abbott would be “free to go forward as a Labour candidate”,  and a senior party source is reported to have indicated that meant Abbott’s candidacy would likely be signed off by the national executive committee..

Previously Starmer and other shadow cabinet members had repeatedly stuck to the line this week that the decision was a matter for the party’s national executive committee.

It comes after deputy leader Angela Rayner said yesterday that she didn’t think there was any reason why Abbott shouldn’t stand as an MP.

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A spokesperson for Labour left campaign group Momentum said: “You come at the queen, you better not miss. Diane Abbott has been bullied & abused her whole career. Starmer tried to force her out. She held firm – and won. This is a huge victory.

“But we know that Starmer’s appalling treatment of Diane is just one case among many. Faiza Shaheen should now be reinstated as the Labour candidate in Chingford & Woodford Green, as members voted.”

Former senior Jeremy Corbyn ally Jon Lansman argued in a LabourList op-ed earlier today that Starmer would “greatly inflame divisions within the party and alienate voters” if Labour blocked Abbott, having just deselected another woman of colour in Faiza Shaheen.

Yet comms expert Stuart Thomson had also written for LabourList earlier today arguing Starmer risked looking “weak” if he backed down on Abbott. “The electorate will be encouraged by the Conservatives to believe that potential internal opponents will have been given additional impetus to ‘control’ the party after the election – ‘Vote Starmer, Get Abbott’.”

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The Conservatives were indeed quick to seize on the decision, saying:  “Angela Rayner is pushing Keir Starmer around. Under pressure, he’s showing he’s a weak leader who’s losing control of the Labour Party.”

Gabriel Pogrund, a Sunday Times journalist and author, said: “After four years bending the party to his will, and outmanoeuvring opponents at on the NEC, Starmer has issued a challenge to the left of his party — and lost.

“At the very moment he is speaking about the ‘changed Labour Party’, right on cue, the left prises open its sealed tomb. First big unforced error.”

But ITV’s Robert Peston said: “Being forced to capitulate is not a great look for any leader during an election campaign, but he clearly decided it was the lesser of two evils, because the row was drowning out so much else he wanted to say.”

Read more of our 2024 general election coverage here.

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