Diane Abbott is on the warpath, and her target is Sir Keir Starmer. Earlier this week, the Labour MP hit out at the Prime Minister during an interview with BBC Newsnight, in which she slammed the Labour leader for his behaviour towards her during the Frank Hester racism row, describing how he treated her as, er, a ‘non-person’. Now, the Hackney North parliamentarian has extended her attack, airing her woes on a podcast that might reach those less news-inclined. Interviewed by author Elizabeth Day on her hit podcast ‘How to Fail’, the veteran MP divulged her chosen three failures (not getting a first at university, losing her 2010 leadership bid and failing to help Jeremy Corbyn win the 2019 general election). She went on to launch into a cosy confessional – managing, of course, to throw in a mix of acid-tongued remarks about her parliamentary colleagues as she did so…
First revisiting the Frank Hester racism row, Abbott fumed that ‘nobody in the Labour party leadership had reached out’ to her, describing how Anneliese Dodds had ‘squirmed’ when asked in an interview with Sky News whether she had offered the Hackney North MP support in the aftermath of the revelations. ‘After that she very quickly messaged me, and Keir Starmer quickly messaged me,’ Abbott recounted. Talk about an afterthought…
Then the MP spoke of the letter she had been suspended from the party over after being accused of antisemitism, slamming Sir Keir’s reaction as ‘strange’. Describing how ‘less than 24 hours’ after her words were published the Labour leader had labelled his MP’s musings antisemitic, Abbott said: ‘Keir Starmer’s a barrister and he would know you can’t have an investigation into something if you have already said publicly what your conclusion is. So I never felt the investigation would amount to much.’ Er, right. Mr S would remind readers that Abbott’s remarks included the claim that ‘Irish, Jewish and Traveller communities’ do not experience racism. The Hackney politician went on to claim she sent the wrong draft letter and said she completely rejects everything she wrote. Sure thing, Diane.
Detailing her fight against the Starmerites, Abbott added that she had been praised by allies for pushing back against a plan to bar her from standing for Labour in the election, claiming:
Some of my colleagues on the Left were very relieved when I stood up to the leadership, because if I hadn’t stood up to them and I had been expelled, they would be next in line. They felt the leadership wanted a mini clear-out – because I didn’t blink, I saved them.
Much to Starmer’s dismay, Mr S would imagine…
And on the Labour leader himself, the lefty MP didn’t hold back. Describing the PM as having been in Labour ‘for a relatively short time’, she said that given he was only selected in 2015, ‘he doesn’t really have a history in the Labour party’. Talk about acting the big dog, eh? When asked when the last time Abbott and the PM exchanged friendly words, the Hackney politician simply laughed: ‘I’ve never had a nice chat with Keir Starmer.’ Ouch. There’s no love lost there…
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