Diane Abbott is ready to be BANNED from standing for Labour
Diane Abbott is set to be banned from standing as a Labour candidate in the upcoming General Election after 30 years as an MP.
Ms Abbott, who has been MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, has been suspended from the party since April last year.
Sir Keir Starmer has been facing fury after it emerged a race row probe into Ms Abbott ended months ago – but she still had not been told if she could be a Labour candidate.
Ms Abbott has had the Labour whip withdrawn for more than a year. She was suspended amid an investigation into her comments about Jewish people in a letter to the Observer newspaper in April last year.
According to BBC Newsnight, that investigation was completed in December last year with Ms Abbott given a formal warning over her conduct.
She was also reportedly required to complete an ‘antisemitism awareness course’.
Diane Abbott (pictured) will not be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate in the upcoming general election
But a source close to Ms Abbott said she was still yet to be told whether she could stand as a Labour candidate in her north London constituency at the general election.
Supporters of the veteran MP on Labour’s left-wing hit out at the ‘outrageous’ treatment of Ms Abbott by Sir Keir and party bosses.
It also came amid a row over claims Sir Keir is lining up key allies to a string of safe seats after six current Labour MPs announced last-minute retirements.
Last week, ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – an ally of Ms Abbott – confirmed he will run as an independent candidate after being barred from standing for the party.
Ms Abbott issued a swift apology for her remarks in April last year, after she suggested Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experience ‘prejudice’ but are not ‘subject to racism’.
She was forced to sit as an independent MP in the House of Commons while a probe was launched into her remarks.
Ms Abbott, who has been MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, has been suspended from the party since April last year
The BBC reported that Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) wrote to Ms Abbott in December 2023 saying it had concluded its eight-month inquiry.
It issued her with a ‘formal warning’ for ‘engaging in conduct that was in the opinion of the NEC, prejudicial and grossly detrimental to the Labour Party’, it was claimed.
The NEC also reportedly said it expected Ms Abbott to undertake an ‘online, e-learning module’, which she is said to have completed in February.
Sir Keir last week refused to be drawn on on whether Ms Abbott would be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate in Hackney North and Stoke Newington.
‘The NEC will be coming to decisions on the final list of candidates in due course, so you’ll see that when the decisions are taken,’ the Labour leader said on Saturday.
Labour told BBC Newsnight that it does not comment on disciplinary cases.
