Diane Abbott’s future still in spotlight amid new row over Starmer ‘lies’ post

Diane Abbott has declared she intends to “run and win” as the “adopted Labour candidate” in Hackney North and Stoke Newington, as the national executive committee prepares to sign off candidates this week.

Her situation was thrust into the spotlight again on Monday after a BBC journalist posted a screenshot reportedly of a post from Abbott’s X account, which read: “More lies from Starmer”. Nick Eardley said the post was subsequently deleted.

The apparent post referenced an article in The Observer in which Starmer said he respected Abbott more than she realised and the row over her candidacy did not arise as a result of a party purges.

It also came after Abbott disputed an allegation that she was offered a peerage if she stood down.

Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper had similarly on Sunday morning denied allegations some former MPs were offered peerages to stand down to let allies of the Labour leadership take their seats.

A string of candidates supportive of leader Keir Starmer have been handed candidacies in Labour-held seats in the past week, in a centralised selection process attributed to the surprise general election but controversially leaving local parties with no say.

One former MP is reported to have told colleagues they were offered a seat in the Lords to pave the way for another candidate to take their seat. One source alleged to The Sunday Times that Diane Abbott was among the MPs offered a peerage if she were to stand down.

But Abbott said on X on Sunday: “This is factually incorrect. I have never been offered a seat in the Lords, and would not accept one if offered. I am the adopted Labour candidate for Hackney North & Stoke Newington. I intend to run and to win as Labour’s candidate.”

Abbott’s comments come after Keir Starmer said the until-recently-suspended politician could stand in Hackney North.

It was widely seen as a significant rowback after party figures had repeatedly suggested it was a matter for the national executive committee, and disputed claims from some party sources she would be barred. Abbott had then recently vowed publicly to stay on as long as possible.

Yvette Cooper said of the peerage claims on Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “No party can do that. It’s not the way the system works. There’s a whole process with the indpeendiet committe that will vet nominations.”

She added: “No party can make those sort of commitments…the thing we do know -we’ve seen a series of quite shocking Conservative resignation honours lists from Boris Johnson to Liz Truss.”

Labour would change how this process works, she added.

Labour and Abbott were approached for comment.

Read more of our 2024 general election coverage here.

If you have anything to share that we should be looking into or publishing about this or any other topic involving Labour or about the election, on record or strictly anonymously, contact us at [email protected]. 

Sign up to LabourList’s morning email for a briefing everything Labour, every weekday morning. 

If you can help sustain our work too through a monthly donation, become one of our supporters here.

And if you or your organisation might be interested in partnering with us on sponsored events or content, email [email protected].