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Veteran MP Diane Abbott was stripped of the Labor whip this morning amid a backlash against her ‘deeply offensive’ suggestion that Jewish people do not suffer from racism.
The former shadow Home Secretary has been suspended from his Labor MP by Alan Campbell, the party’s leader, while an investigation is carried out.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer received calls to take action against Ms Abbott following her comments in a Sunday newspaper.
The 69-year-old, who has been an MP for more than 35 years, suggested that Jewish, Irish and Travelers experience “prejudice” but are “not subject to racism all their lives”.
Amid the anger over her comments, Cabinet Secretary Grant Shapps accused Ms Abbott, a close ally of former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, of “expressing hateful anti-Semitism”.
She later issued a statement “withdrawing my comments in full and unreservedly and distancing myself from them,” as she blamed the writing on “mistakes.”
But Labor continued to take action against the ex-shadow minister.
A spokesman said: ‘The Labor Party fully condemns these comments, which are deeply offensive and wrong.
The chief whip has suspended Diane Abbott’s Labor whip pending an investigation.
Diane Abbott, now stripped of the Labor whip, sparked a furious backlash with her suggestion that Jewish people don’t suffer from ‘racism’
The veteran MP made the controversial comments in a letter to the Observer newspaper when she responded to a recent commentary article
Ms Abbott issued a public apology this morning to ‘completely and unconditionally withdraw and disassociate from my comments’
The 69-year-old is a close ally of former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was blocked last month from standing as an official party candidate in the next general election.
The row was sparked by Mrs Abbott’s letter to the Observer newspaper, responding to a recent commentary article stating that the Irish, Jews and Travelers all suffer from racism.
“They undoubtedly experience prejudice,” Mrs. Abbott wrote.
This is similar to racism and the two words are often used as if they were interchangeable.
It is true that many types of white people with differences, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice.
“But they are not subject to racism all their lives. In pre-civil rights America, Irishmen, Jews, and travelers did not have to sit in the back of the bus.
‘In apartheid South Africa, these groups were allowed to vote. And at the height of slavery, no white-appearing people were handcuffed on the slave ships.’
In response to Ms Abbott’s comments, Energy Secretary Grant Shapps posted on Twitter: “Once again, Jewish people need to wake up and see a Labor MP casually spewing hateful anti-Semitism.”
Oliver Cooper, the chairman of the Watford Conservative Association, called on Sir Keir to take the Labor whip away from Mrs Abbott.
He tweeted: “Diane Abbott is saying today that it is not possible to be racist towards Jewish people, and that thousands of years of discrimination and genocide is just a bit of teasing because you are a redhead.
‘Really disgusting. Starmer must remove the Labor whip immediately.”
A senior Labor activist told MailOnline: ‘Too bad Diane decides that testing boundaries with Keir is more important than building solidarity between black people and other minorities. She should know better.
“People are outraged – this biased hierarchical narrative of racism only helps the racists in the end.”
Amid the backlash against her comments, Ms Abbott issued a public apology this morning.
In a statement on her Twitter account, she wrote: “I am writing in response to my letter recently published in The Observer.
“I wish to withdraw and dissociate myself from my comments in full and without reservation.
“The errors arose when sending an initial draft. But there is no excuse and I want to apologize for the suffering caused.
“Racism takes many forms, and there is no denying that Jewish people have suffered the monstrous consequences, as have the Irish, Travelers and many others.
“Again, I would probably (sic) publicly apologize for the comments and any distress caused by them.”
Ms Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, served as Shadow Home Secretary under the Labor leadership of Corbyn.
In October 2020, the Equality and Human Rights Commission ruled that the party had acted unlawfully in its treatment of Jewish members during Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
Mr Corbyn, who lost the Labor whip following his response to the damning EHRC report, was blocked as an official Labor candidate in the next general election last month.
Labour suspends Diane Abbott for implying that Jewish people are exempt from experiencing racism.