Diane Abbott Suspended from Labour Party Following Remarks on Jewish Racism

Diane Abbott attends a Stand Up to Racism rally outside Downing Street, London, on July 17, 2021. Hollie Adams/Getty Images

Diane Abbott has been suspended as a Labour MP after suggesting Jewish people are not subject to racism “all their lives.”

Abbott, who served as shadow home secretary under the hard-left former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, made the comment in response to a comment which suggested that Irish, Jewish, and Traveller people all suffer from racism in the UK.

She wrote in a letter in The Observer newspaper: “It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice.

“But they are not all their lives subject to racism. In pre-civil rights America, Irish people, Jewish people, and Travellers were not required to sit at the back of the bus.

“In apartheid South Africa, these groups were allowed to vote. And at the height of slavery, there were no white-seeming people manacled on the slave ships.”

Abbott’s remarks sparked a backlash and led to calls for her to be suspended.

Energy Secretary Grant Shapps said on Twitter: “Once again, Jewish people have to wake up and see a Labour MP casually spouting hateful antisemitism.”

Shapps asked Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, “Are you actually going to do anything?”

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer speaking in east London, following the Equality and Human Rights Commission's announcement that it has concluded its monitoring of the Labour Party, on Feb. 15, 2023. Stefan Rousseau/PA Media

‘Deeply Offensive’

Shortly afterwards, the Labour Party confirmed that the whip has been suspended from her pending an investigation.

A party spokesman said: “The Labour Party completely condemns these comments, which are deeply offensive and wrong.

“The chief whip has suspended the Labour whip from Diane Abbott pending an investigation.”

This means Abbott will not be allowed to represent Labour in the House of Commons, and will now sit as an independent MP.

The suspension came after Abbott apologised for any “anguish” caused, suggesting “errors arose” in her initial draft letter to the newspaper.

She said on Twitter: “I am writing regarding my letter that was recently published in the Observer. I wish to wholly and unreservedly withdraw my written remarks and disassociate myself from them. The errors arose in an initial draft being sent. But there is no excuse and I wish to apologise for any anguish caused.

“Racism takes many forms and it is completely undeniable that Jewish people have suffered its monstrous effects, as have Irish people, travellers and many others.

“Once again, I would like to apologise publicly for the remarks and any distress caused as a result of them.”

‘Either Woefully Misinformed or Deliberately Bigoted’

Abbott’s comments in The Observer have been heavily criticised by Jewish members of the Labour Party.

Jewish Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge said on Twitter that Abbott’s letter was “deeply offensive and deeply depressing.”

She added: “Keir Starmer’s response is right. No excuses. No delays. The comments will be investigated and she has been immediately suspended.”

Labour Against Antisemitism said Abbott’s comments are “simply unacceptable.”

Spokeswoman Fiona Sharpe said: “To reduce the racism faced by Jews to mere prejudice when in living memory 6 million Jews were systematically slaughtered in Europe for their race is grossly offensive.

“In the UK today one in five of all Jews have suffered a racist attack, with more than one in three Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller reporting the same.

“Ms. Abbott is either woefully misinformed or deliberately bigoted. Neither should be tolerated.”

The Jewish Labour Movement welcomed the move to suspend the whip, saying: “We should be unified in our struggle against racism, not divided against one another. A hierarchy of racism only divides communities and assists the racists. We must not allow this.”

Anti-Semitism

This is the latest incident of alleged anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.

During Corbyn’s leadership from 2015 to 2020, Labour was persistently plagued by allegations of anti-Semitism among party ranks.

Jeremy Corbyn, then-leader of the Labour Party, pauses while speaking at the vote count in his Islington North constituency in London, on Dec. 12, 2019. Leon Neal/Getty Images

In October 2020, months after Corbyn stepped down as party leader, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found the Labour Party in breach of the Equality Act (2010) for political interference in anti-Semitism complaints, failure to provide adequate training to those handling such complaints, and harassment.

Starmer, the new Labour leader, suspended Corbyn’s party membership after he said the EHRC’s findings “dramatically overstated” the problem “for political reasons.”

Corbyn got his party membership back the following month, but Starmer refused to give back his party whip, which means that he has been kept out of the parliamentary Labour Party and has continued to be classed as an “independent” MP.

Last month, the Labour leadership formally blocked Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate in the next general election.

Starmer said in February that anyone who plays down anti-Semitism will be treated with “zero patience or tolerance.”

He said Labour “will never again be a party captured by narrow interest” and “will never again be brought to its knees by racism or bigotry.”

PA Media contributed to this report.