MP Diane Abbott has been suspended from the Labour Party for a second time, a spokesperson said, after she doubled down on comments about racism for which she had previously apologised.
She has been “administratively suspended” while the party investigates.
The move means the whip is automatically suspended in the House of Commons for the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP, it is understood.
“Diane Abbott has been administratively suspended from the Labour Party, pending an investigation. We cannot comment further while this investigation is ongoing,” a Labour Party spokesperson said.
Ms Abbott was suspended by the Labour Party in 2023 after writing a letter to the Observer comparing racism experienced by people of colour with that seen by other groups.
She apologised for any anguish caused by the remarks, which drew criticism from Jewish and Traveller groups, and was readmitted to the party before the 2024 general election.
But in a new interview with BBC Radio 4’s Reflections programme, she said she did not look back on the incident with regret.
“No, not at all,” she told the BBC.
“Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism, because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don’t know.
“You don’t know unless you stop to speak to them or you’re in a meeting with them.
“But if you see a black person walking down the street, you see straight away that they’re black. They are different types of racism.”
She added: “I just think that it’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism.”
Ms Abbott posted a clip of her BBC interview after news of her suspension emerged. She did not respond to a request for comment.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was asked if she was disappointed by the comments.
“I was. There’s no place for antisemitism in the Labour Party, and obviously the Labour Party has processes for that,” she told The Guardian.
“Diane had reflected on how she’d put that article together, and said that ‘was not supposed to be the version’, and now to double down and say ‘Well, actually I didn’t mean that. I actually meant what I originally said’, I think is a real challenge.”Ms Abbott is the longest-serving female MP in the Commons, having entered Parliament in 1987, and holds the honorary title of Mother of the House.
She lost the whip in April 2023 after her letter to the Observer, sparking a long-running process during which she sat as an Independent MP for about a year while an internal investigation took place.
She was readmitted as a Labour MP shortly before the 2024 election.
Ms Abbott suggested in the letter that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experience prejudice, but not racism.
She withdrew the remarks the same day and apologised “for any anguish caused”.
In the newly released BBC interview, she said she was “grateful” to be a Labour MP, but that she was sure the party leadership had been “trying to get me out”.
