The long and sorry saga of Diane Abbott leaving parliament, where she arrived as a trailblazer, has left a bitter taste in the mouths of many colleagues – even those who are far from her natural allies. After almost 36 tortuous hours the UK’s first black female MP is in the Labour party but possibly out of parliament, and no one seemingly wants to own how these decisions came about. Most MPs agreed Abbott should have been suspended for a letter she wrote saying minority groups such as Jewish people and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people faced similar levels of prejudice to people with red hair. She apologised afterwards and has completed a training course. There was perhaps a missed moment to return the whip after the Guardian’s revelations about the Tory donor Frank Hester, who said Abbott made him want to hate all black women. It encapsulated the vicious abuse the MP has confronted all her life. Starmer called it abhorrent, while maintaining the independent disciplinary process had not finished. The question lingers about why the whip was not returned after Abbott completed mandatory training. Now it emerges that was the end of last year – and still nothing was decided. A deal was reportedly being hatched under which Abbott would have the whip returned and then step down at the election. Labour ostensibly did not want to give the impression she had been “banned” and Starmer has denied that is the case. But in the row over semantics, the end result is the same: that Abbott will not stand again. MPs’ concerns over the handling of Abbott’s case are twofold. The first are those from Abbott’s wing of the party, who are appalled at the way the issue has been left to fester. Fellow women of colour are especially perturbed.
There is a natural suspicion that there are some factional players in Starmer’s team who, far from wanting to smooth things over, have thought that putting public distance between Starmer and Abbott was a good thing – given she is unpopular among some sections of the electorate, having been shadow home secretary under Jeremy Corbyn. More MPs are perturbed by Labour HQ’s apparent cack-handedness. If there was to be a neat deal where she would receive the Labour whip, announce her retirement and allow colleagues to pay full tribute to her extraordinary career, then it has been blown up by incompetence. Others have expressed concern that Starmer allows himself to get into situations where he has to hide behind the twisty language of abdicating responsibility. He can argue the disciplinary process is independent but it was not active at the time the election was called. Whether Abbott is allowed to stand as a Labour candidate in Hackney North and Stoke Newington is now a matter for the national executive committee, on which Starmer loyalists have a strong majority. They will decide nothing that would go against what the Labour leader would prefer. Abbott has arguably not helped herself during the process, which frustrated her and increased her personal enmity towards the Labour leader. Her X feed is deeply critical of Starmer and shadow cabinet ministers such as Wes Streeting, and she has vociferously defended her close friend Corbyn. Starmer in turn has not yet paid tribute to Abbott and her career. Ultimately, the row is one that most Labour MPs do not need on the first week of campaigning, and they feel frustrated it has been allowed to dominate for at least a day. There will be many voters for whom this is not just internal shenanigans but who care deeply about the party’s first female black MP being treated with respect.