Diane Abbott has taken a furious swipe at Sir Keir Starmer after accusing the Prime Minister of treating her as a “non-person” during a race row involving a Tory donor.
The ex-Shadow Home Secretary claimed her suspension from the Labour Party over alleged antisemitic comments last year was a “move against me”, with the Prime Minister hoping to “finish his clear out of the Labour left”.
In her latest tirade against Starmer, Abbott told the BBC: “I think that initially I was treated as a non-person which felt very strange because at the same time they were writing to party members trying to raise money on how Hester had treated me, without mentioning me.”
She added: “Keir Starmer treated me as a non-person and I got more support from the leader of the SNP, Stephen Flynn, than I got from the leader of my own party.”
Abbott’s comments came after Tory donor Frank Hester said: “It’s like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV, and you’re just like I hate, you just want to hate all black women because she’s there, and I don’t hate all black women at all, but I think she should be shot.”
Hester, who donated £20million to the Tories since the start of 2023, later apologised for his “rude” remarks but denied they were to do with gender or race.
Abbott also claimed she was indirectly offered a deal through a “third party” as Labour put pressure on the ex-Shadow Home Secretary to stand down ahead of July 4.
However, a Labour Party spokesperson said: “There is no doubt that she has received the most abuse of any MP just because of her gender and the colour of her skin, and that is completely reprehensible and wrong.
“The party, including Keir Starmer, vocally condemned Frank Hester’s vile comments and reached out to Diane at the time to offer support.”
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Starmer ‘angry’ about criminals celebrating early release
Around 1,700 prisoners were released early
PA
Sir Keir Starmer has expressed his anger about criminals celebrating their early release from prison after Labour drew up plans to curb overcrowding behind bars.
More than 1,700 convicts were released early last week in the first stage of Starmer’s plan to tackle overcrowding.
Some were snapped celebrating with champagne and other jubilant criminals were also snapped by photographers.
The Prime Minister said: “I spent five years prosecuting and putting people in prison, and being forced to release people who should be in prison makes me angry.
“But the choice was pretty simple. We’d got to the point where prisons were so full we had the choice between releasing people in the way that we’ve done it, or not being able to arrest people and put them in prison.”
