Diane Abbott on Keir Starmer: “I don’t think he's happy I’m still an MP”
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The Labour MP speaks to The News Agents about Keir Starmer, her experience of racism, and the time she nearly got kicked out of the Labour Party.
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Diane Abbott on Frank Hestor: "𝘞𝘩𝘺 would I talk to him? He wanted me 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩."
Read time: 3 minutes
In brief…
- Diane Abbott, Labour MP for North Hackney and Stoke Newignton, speaks to The News Agents’ Emily Maitlis.
- Abbott says she doubts Keir Starmer was happy about having her back in the party following her suspension.
- The MP hits out at Starmer’s move to means-test the winter fuel payment for pensioners, but defends his acceptance of free gifts and donations.
What’s the story?
Diane Abbott has been a Labour MP since 1987. But last year, that nearly changed.
Abbot had written a letter published in The Observer saying that while "many types of white people with points of difference" can experience prejudice, they are not subject to racism "all their lives".
“My point was that racism about skin color is different from other types of racism. But I put it very badly”, she tells Emily, adding that it was “poorly written”.
It was perceived by some as racist, or anti-semtitic, and she was subsequently suspended from the party pending an investigation. It ended up taking seven months.
On why it took so long, she tells Emily: “I think they strung out the inquiry because had they completed the inquiry and thrown me out of the Labour Party, then my local party would have been able to pick my successor.
“And being a Left Party, they would have chosen a left-wing successor.”
So was it an attempted purging of the left?
“Of course, it was”, Abbott tells Emily.
She later adds: “Given the firmness, the intentness of wanting to get rid of me, I don't think he's happy I'm still an MP.”
In fact, Abbott “can't get over the fact that despite everything people did”, she’s still a Labour Party MP.
How does Abbott think Starmer’s doing now?
Dianne Abbott and Keir Starmer aren’t exactly known to be the best of friends.
“When Starmer ran for the leadership after Jeremy stepped down, he presented himself as a new Jeremy, but more acceptable.
“When he did a video as part of his campaign, you would have thought that he was at the heart of every industrial dispute since the miners strike. Well, of course, he wasn't.”
Abbot and Jerermy Corbyn, on the other hand, are a different story. She is a long-standing ally of the former Labour leader, both of whom rose up the ranks to become veterans on the party's left wing. The pair even dated for a period.
Corbyn, she says, would never have means-tested the winter fuel allowance for pensioners like Starmer has.
“The thing that has upset Labour members, most recently, was means-testing the winter fuel allowance. People were very upset about that.”
She adds: “Making decisions to take money off pensioners. I mean, come on. Given that [there’s] a £22 billion black hole, there were other ways to raise that money, apart from taking off pensioners and it tells you something about the way the current leadership thinks.”
That doesn’t mean she’s never on Starmer’s side. The other instance the new Prime Minister has come under scrutiny is for accepting gifts and donations, although he broke no rules.
Abbott said: “I think the media has really wound up this whole stuff. He wasn't corrupt. Nobody in the current cabinet is corrupt.”
How did Abbott feel after the Frank Hester story broke?
There is a different donor story that Abbott herself is associated with. Except hers has nothing to do with accepting donations.
Hers concerns Tory donor Frank Hester, who’s old comments about Abbott making him “want to hate all black women” and that the MP “should be shot” were dug up by the media.
“He rang me the day after it was all in The Guardian and I didn't want to speak to him. How can you want to have somebody shot and think you can ring them and speak to them and say you're sorry…my staff dealt with it.
“He wanted me shot. And this wasn't an idle thing. Two MPs had died in recent years.”
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