Sir Keir Starmer has been plunged into a fresh row over Diane Abbott’s suspension after it emerged the investigation into her was completed five months ago.
The Labour leader has repeatedly refused to say whether Ms Abbott, the longest-serving Black MP, will be able to stand for the party in the 4 July general election.
She was suspended last April over a letter she wrote suggesting Jewish people are not subjected to the same racism as some other minorities.
Ms Abbott, the former shadow home secretary, under Jeremy Corbyn, apologised over the comments and said the letter had been an “initial draft”.
More than a year on, Sir Keir has insisted there is an ongoing investigation into Ms Abbott and that he cannot get involved in the case. He has promised only that it will be resolved by 4 June.
But the claim has been blown apart by a Newsnight report claiming the investigation into Ms Abbott was completed in December.
She was given a formal warning over her conduct and required to complete an antisemitism awareness course, which she completed in February, it added.
A source close to Ms Abbott told the BBC programme she has not been told whether she will be allowed to stand for the Labour Party in Hackney North and Stoke Newington, where she was elected in 1987.
But the source added that she was not expecting to have her suspension lifted as the party had a “predetermined outcome” and was “dragging out the process in order to block her from being a candidate at the election”.
In the letter which saw her suspended, published in The Observer, Ms Abbott suggested Jewish people are not subjected to the same racism as some other minorities.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner and mother of the House Harriet Harman are among those who have said they want her allowed back into the party.
If Ms Abbott’s suspension is not lifted by the 4 June deadline, Ms Abbott will be forced into retirement or will have to stand as an independent against the party she represented for three and a half decades.
Labour restoring the whip to Ms Abbott would be seen as an olive branch to MPs and activists on the left, who have long criticised the probe into her as a sham.
But it would open Sir Keir up to charges that he has failed to sufficiently change the Labour Party from the Jeremy Corbyn years, a legacy the Labour leader is keen to distance himself from.
She has previously said the investigation is “fraudulent” and is being used to “bully” her.
Ms Abbott has given no indication that she intends to stand down at the next election.
A spokesperson for left-wing campaign group Momentum said: “This is outrageous news which confirms that the Starmer leadership is trying to force Britain’s first Black woman MP out of Parliament.
“For months we have been told by Keir Starmer that the process is independent and it’s nothing to do with him. Today’s revelation confirms this is another brazen lie from Keir Starmer – the investigation was concluded months ago. Diane remains a Labour member and the whip should already have been restored as a result.”
The spokesperson called for Sir Keir to bring Ms Abbott back into the Labour fold and let her run as the Labour candidate in her seat if she wishes.
