Abbott suspended by Labour Party after racism comments

MP Diane Abbott has been suspended by the Labour Party pending an investigation into comments she made about racism, the BBC understands.

The move also means that Abbott will sit as an independent MP, known as losing the whip.

Labour said it would not be commenting “while this investigation is ongoing”.

It comes after she said in a BBC interview: “I just think that it’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism.”

She was speaking about a 2023 controversy, when she was suspended as a Labour MP for a year after comments she made about racism in a letter to a newspaper.

In that letter, she wrote that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people “undoubtedly experience prejudice” that is “similar to racism”.

She wrote: “It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism.”

Abbott was quick to withdraw the remarks, which were heavily criticised by Jewish and Traveller groups, and apologised “for any anguish caused”.

But she was suspended from the party and only re-admitted just before last year’s general election.

Asked by the BBC if she looked back on the whole incident with regret, she said: “No, not at all.”