Kate Osamor gets back Labour whip after inquiry into Gaza post

Her readmittance to the parliamentary party comes in the same day that the Labour Party welcomed Natalie Elphicke as their newest MP.

Mrs Elphicke waited until the start of Prime Minister’s Questions to make her dramatic defection from the Conservatives to Labour.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer welcomed her move describing the Dover MP as having a “strong track record on issues such as housing”.

However, the left-wing group Momentum criticised his decision to accept her.

“This hard-right Tory should have no place in a Labour Party worthy of the name.

“It speaks volumes about Keir Starmer that he is welcoming her with open arms, while leaving Diane Abbott out in the cold.”

Ms Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, was suspended from the parliamentary party in April 2023 after writing in the Observer newspaper that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people “undoubtedly experience prejudice”, which she said is “similar to racism”.

“But they are not all their lives subject to racism,” she added.

Over a year on from her suspension, some Labour MPs, have said Ms Abbott should be brought back into the party.

Earlier this year, Sir Keir told the BBC that Ms Abbott cannot re-join the party while an independent investigation into her comments was in progress.

Some Labour shadow ministers – including Angela Rayner and Yvette Cooper – have expressed frustration at the time taken to conclude the investigation.