The Labour Party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, expressed her support for Diane Abbott on Thursday, heightening the strain on party leader Keir Starmer, who’s facing criticisms related to alleged party purging of Abbott and other left-wing nominees. Starmer now has the critical task of pacifying the volatile situation before it spins beyond his management, overshadowing Labour’s campaign further.
Maintaining his preferred “Tory chaos” critique would become challenging for Starmer as his party is tangled in robust infighting. However, an expectation of stepping back from Starmer’s side now seems quite probable. If his supporters decide to fortify their disagreement with the party’s left, a distasteful clash may be unavoidable.
Abbott, a veteran Labour MP and the first black woman to make it to the parliament, was reportedly under suspension for a year due to remarks she made in the Observer newspaper. She had been accused of reducing the prejudice faced by Jews, Irish people and Travellers, as compared to the maltreatment suffered by black people. However, Abbott promptly apologised yet was suspended pending investigation. The decision of her future was now in the hands of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC), whose members are mostly allies of party leader Starmer.
Labelling of Abbott as “banned” from presenting herself as a Labour MP was suggested by party sources and published in a Times article. This led to sharp objections from Labour’s left wing, with accusations of Starmer’s group intentionally and spitefully humbling Abbott. In fact, even moderate members of Labour were of the belief that she was handed unworthy disrespect.
Support for Abbott broadened on Wednesday, amidst Labour’s missions to target Tory’s NHS management. Despite this, two more prominent left-wing Labour members were prohibited from standing. Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Brighton’s MP, was suspended on Wednesday due to undisclosed allegations against him. He described them as “baseless, politically driven” and an act to “sabotage” his electioneering efforts.
On Wednesday at 9pm, Faiza Shaheen, otherwise recognised as the “Chingford Corbynite”, was suspended from the London Labour party. This was due to past endorsements of tweets – possibly from as many as ten years ago – that allegedly propagated anti-semitic themes. Shaheen, who is a Muslim and a left-leaning politician, has vowed to legally combat this suspension.
Meanwhile, Russell-Moyle seemed to resign himself to not having the opportunity to run for office. Amid these events, Rayner intervened in the Abbott controversy on Thursday with a statement. She could not “identify any justification” as to why the previously suspended party member could not resume her position as a Labour MP.
On Wednesday, Starmer refuted the allegations that Abbott had been barred from office. In fact, he implied that the decision concerning Abbott will be penned down by the NEC next Tuesday. Starmer then praised her as a “trailblazer” on Thursday, hinting at a possible opportunity for NEC to invite her back to the party and resolve the ongoing conflict, sparking speculation that he was providing a platform for her restitution into the Labour Party.