Labour looking into Abbott’s comments about racism

The Labour Celebration has stated it’s taking “extremely critically” an interview by Diane Abbott by which she stood by feedback she made about racism that led to a year-long suspension from the Labour Celebration.In an interview with the BBC’s James Naughtie, she was requested in regards to the controversy that was sparked by a letter she wrote to the Observer in April 2023. Within the letter, she wrote that Irish, Jewish and Traveller individuals “undoubtedly expertise prejudice” that’s “much like racism”.She added: “It’s true that many forms of white individuals with factors of distinction, reminiscent of redheads, can expertise this prejudice. However they don’t seem to be all their lives topic to racism.”Abbott was fast to withdraw the remarks, which have been closely criticised by Jewish and Traveller teams, and apologised “for any anguish brought about”.However she was suspended from the occasion and solely re-admitted simply earlier than final yr’s basic election. Requested by Naughtie if she appeared again on the entire incident with remorse, she stated: “No, by no means.”She added: “Clearly, there have to be a distinction between racism which is about color and different forms of racism as a result of you possibly can see a Traveller or a Jewish individual strolling down the road, you do not know. “You do not know except you cease to talk to them otherwise you’re in a gathering with them. “However in case you see a black individual strolling down the road, you see right away that they are black. They’re various kinds of racism.”Requested if she believed she had completed something improper or had stated one thing in her Observer letter that she didn’t consider in, she stated: “I simply suppose that it is foolish to attempt to declare that racism which is about pores and skin color is identical as different forms of racism. “I simply… I do not know why individuals would say that.”A Labour Celebration spokesperson stated: “There isn’t a place for antisemitism within the Labour Celebration. We take these feedback extremely critically, and can assess them consistent with Labour Celebration’s guidelines and procedures.”Baroness Shami Chakrabarti – a Labour peer and a pal of Abbott – instructed BBC’s Politics Dwell she didn’t interpret the interview because the MP retracting her earlier apology.”She was saying, as I perceive it… that individuals do expertise racism in another way – that does not create a hierarchy, that does not imply one form racism is healthier than one other,” she stated. “I feel people who find themselves writing ‘island of strangers’ speeches needs to be a bit gradual to take a seat in judgement on Diane Abbott who has been preventing racism all her life,” she added in a reference to feedback made by Keir Starmer final month. One other Labour peer Lord John Mann – who co-produced a report into antisemitism this week – stated: “When her [Abbott’s] constituents are attacked on the road as a result of they’re Jewish, it’s anti-Jewish racism… they know what it’s as a result of they’re experiencing it day-in, day-out.”In a wide-ranging interview for his Reflections programme, which was recorded in Might, Naughtie requested the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP if she would condemn antisemitic behaviour in the identical manner she would racist behaviour towards somebody due to the color of the pores and skin.She replied: “Effectively after all, and I do get a bit weary of individuals making an attempt to pin the antisemitic label on me as a result of I’ve spent a lifetime preventing racism of all types and specifically preventing antisemitism, partly due to the character of my constituency.”The exchanges got here as Abbott mentioned her life and profession in politics, together with her personal experiences of racism, as Britain’s first black lady MP and her years of campaigning with different radical left wingers together with Jeremy Corbyn.She entered Parliament in 1987 and is now the Mom of the Home, the honorary title given to the longest-serving feminine MP.In April 2023, the veteran MP was suspended by the Labour Celebration pending the end result of an investigation, with chief Sir Keir Starmer saying her letter “was antisemitic” and needs to be condemned.Abbott was readmitted to the Labour Celebration in Might 2024, simply in time for her stand as a Labour candidate within the basic election, regardless that an inner inquiry into her conduct had concluded 4 months earlier.The previous shadow house secretary was given a “formal warning” for partaking in conduct that was within the opinion of Labour’s Nationwide Govt Committee “prejudicial and grossly detrimental to the Labour Celebration”. She additionally accomplished a web based antismetism consciousness course.Requested by Naughtie if she had been “frolicked to dry” by the Labour management, who had continued to say she was topic to a disciplinary course of after it had completed, she stated: “Ultimately, Keir Starmer needed to restore the whip to me. “I obtained large help domestically. We had an enormous rally on the steps of Hackney City Corridor. And ultimately Keir Starmer and the individuals round him needed to again off due to the help I had from the neighborhood.”She stated she was certain that the Labour management had been “making an attempt to get me out” and there have been “hints” that she can be supplied a seat within the Home of Lords if she stepped down as an MP. “I used to be by no means going to that. And I am a Labour MP at present, and I am grateful,” she stated.Reflections is on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 17 July at 09:30 BST.Hear right here on BBC Sounds.