Keir Starmer is facing fresh calls to reinstate the whip to Diane Abbott so she can stand for Labour in July’s General Election.
The veteran left-wing MP and former Shadow Home Secretary has been suspended since April 2023 over a letter she wrote about racism. The Mirror understands Labour will make a decision on Ms Abbott’s position next week.
But if the party fails to restore the whip, she will be forced to either run as an independent candidate in Hackney North and Stoke Newington – a seat she has represented since 1987 – or step down from Parliament.
Former Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told The Mirror: “I am appealing to Keir Starmer to restore the whip to Diane and let her stand as a Labour candidate. As the first black woman MP and with her campaigning record on behalf of her community and the Labour Party she is an iconic figure and especially inspiring to young black women. I am just asking for her to be created fairly.”
A spokeswoman for the left-wing campaign group Momentum added: “Keir Starmer rightly called Diane Abbott a ‘trailblazer’ as Britain’s first black woman MP. He should now reinstate her as a Labour MP and let her run as the Labour candidate in Hackney North & Stoke Newington, as local members voted. Anything less is an insult to Diane, her constituents and all those who have been inspired by her example.”
Asked about the position of Ms Abbott, Labour’s National Campaign Coordinator Pat McFadden said he was not involved in the selection of candidates. But he said: “Now that the election is called, any of these issues with candidates will be sorted out in the next few days.” He added: “I’m not involved in that process… but I do know we’ll have a full suite of good candidates in the next few days.”
It comes as ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is expected to imminently announce whether he will stand as an independent. Labour has shortlisted two candidates – Islington councillor Praful Nargund and London Assembly member Sem Moema – to replace Mr Corbyn in Islington North.
The former Labour leader was formally blocked last year from standing as a party candidate for the first time since 1983. Mr Corbyn currently sits as an independent in the Commons after he had the whip suspended over his response to the damning Equalities and Human Rights Commission anti-Semitism report in 2020 which found Labour had broken equalities law.