Diane Abbott should “take a few days” to decide whether to run for re-election after being targeted by “overgrown schoolboys”, a close friend said.
Baroness Shami Chakrabarti said her pal had been the victim of a “sometimes sordid week of unauthorised anonymous briefings by overgrown schoolboys in suits”. The peer, who served in the shadow cabinet with Ms Abbott, told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg she hopes Ms Abbott isn’t pressured into a decision by either allies or detractors.
She said: “I hope she will take some time to consider what she wants to do and that’s what I’ve suggested to her as her friend.” It comes after Keir Starmer finally gave the veteran left-winger the green light to stand for Labour next month after days of uncertainty over her future.
Ms Abbott has yet to confirm she will definitely stand again in Hackney North and Stoke Newington. But Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says she expects Ms Abbott will be the candidate.
Baroness Chakrabarti said it is important that Ms Abbott isn’t pressured into a decision on whether to stand again by either fans or detractors. She said: “I think it’s important now for this not to be decided by fans or detractors of my dear friend. I want her to, you know, just decide what she wants to do.”
Hitting out at those who briefed against her, she said: “I hope they remember it’s supposed to be country first, not faction first.” But she declined to point the finger of blame at Keir Starmer’s office, stating: “I have been assured I have been personally assured by the leadership of the Labour Party, the senior most people in the Labour Party that these briefings were unauthorised. And of course they’re anonymous.”
She went on: “It’s not good for the Labour Party and it hasn’t been very hasn’t been very nice for Diane.” Ms Abbott – the first Black woman elected to Parliament in 1987 – is expected to be approved as a candidate by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) if she stands.
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It follows a row after she said she’d been barred from standing. Mr Starmer came in for days of criticism before finally confirming on Friday that there was nothing to stop Ms Abbott putting herself forward. She was suspended by Labour last year after she suggested Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experience prejudice, but not racism, in a letter to The Observer. She apologised at the time but the investigation into her conduct dragged on for months.
Ms Abbott said on Friday: “My local party selected me as their candidate in 2022. But I will not be the official candidate until I am endorsed by the Labour National Executive at its meeting on Tuesday.”
Asked if Ms Abbott will stand for Labour in Hackney and Stoke Newington, Ms Cooper told Sky News: “I assume so, yes. “I’m very glad it’s been resolved for Diane. She continues to be a very important figure in the Labour Party. All the things that she’s done, the campaigning work that she continues to do. So, I’m glad this has been resolved.”