Sir Keir Starmer has said he “utterly condemns” Diane Abbott’s comments on racism as he vowed to “tear out antisemitism” from the “roots” of the Labour party.
The Labour leader acknowledged the racist abuse Ms Abbott has suffered herself over “many, many years,” but said her comments – claiming white people “with points of difference” hadn’t suffered the same racism as Black people – were antisemitic.
Speaking a day after Ms Abbott was suspended from the Labour party over the remarks, Sir Keir said: “In my view what she said was to be condemned, it was antisemitic.
“Diane Abbott has suffered a lot of racial abuse over many many years… that doesn’t take away from the fact that I condemn the words she used and we must never accept the argument that there’s some sort of hierarchy of racism.”
He added: “I will never accept that, the Labour Party will never accept that, and that’s why we acted as swiftly as we did yesterday.
“I said we would tear out antisemitism by its roots – I meant it and that is why we acted so swiftly.”
The row broke out after Ms Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington said in a letter to The Observer that Jewish, Irish and traveller communities had experienced “prejudice”, adding: “This is similar to racism and the two words are often used as if they are interchangeable.”
She went on: “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.”
Ms Abbott apologised for any “anguish” caused, suggesting “errors arose” in her initial draft letter to the newspaper. Ms Abbott had the Labour whip suspended and the party launched an investigation.
Sir Keir has since come under pressure to ban Ms Abbott from standing for the party at the next election. Asked about the issue, he said: “There’s an investigation in place, I’ve got to let that investigation be completed.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said her suspension “must be the first step towards her expulsion from the party”.
Shadow minister Pat McFadden said earlier that Sir Keir, the Labour chief whip and Ms Abbott’s local party would decide whether she stands for the party at the next election.
Mr McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, told Sky News: “I’m sure that if she has made an apology, it is genuine. But it will be for the chief whip and the leader to decide what happens next.”
He added: “The way this works in the Labour party is you are picked by your local party, you have to be approved by the NEC [national executive committee]. The chief whip has a big say in that too. So there’ll be a process there.”
Lord Mann, an independent adviser to the government on antisemitism, said Ms Abbott’s comments were some of “the most astonishing” he had seen and suggested she would retire at the next election. He added that Ms Abbott’s apology is “only half an apology”.
Diane Abbott and then-shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer at 2019 rally
He told Sky News: “I would anticipate that she will retire now at the next election. She has suffered from racism and to deny the suffering of other groups – the traveller community, the Jewish community – in terms of what they have suffered and continue to suffer and the discrimination against them.”
Only one of Ms Abbott’s fellow left-wing MPs has come out in her defence, Claudia Webbe. Ms Webbe, who was expelled from the party after being convicted of harassing a love rival and sits as an independent, expressed her “solidarity” with Ms Abbott.
She wrote on Twitter: “I want to place on record my solidarity with Diane Abbott. She has retracted and disassociated. Now the pile on against her must stop. We must oppose all forms of racism, always.”
Other political allies of Ms Abbott have turned their back on the former shadow home secretary, with the founder of the left-wing campaign group Momentum Jon Lansman describing her remarks as “disgraceful”.
He wrote on Twitter: “A disgraceful comment by Diane Abbott for which she has rightly been suspended from the Labour Party. Racism is not a competition!”
Ms Abbott has been an MP since 1987, was the first black woman elected to Parliament and served as former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow home secretary.
