{"id":63156,"date":"2024-05-31T13:54:54","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T13:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/31\/diane-abbott-free-to-stand-for-labour-says-starmer\/"},"modified":"2024-05-31T13:54:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T13:54:54","slug":"diane-abbott-free-to-stand-for-labour-says-starmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/31\/diane-abbott-free-to-stand-for-labour-says-starmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Diane Abbott free to stand for Labour, says Starmer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Diane<\/div>


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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said Diane Abbott is “free to go forward as a Labour candidate”, ending days of speculation about the veteran left-winger’s future.<\/p>\n

Ms Abbott, the first female black MP, had claimed she had been banned from standing for Labour at the general election on 4 July.<\/p>\n

Sir Keir has now given Ms Abbott his blessing to stand in Hackney North and Stoke Newington – a seat she has represented since 1987. <\/p>\n

Labour’s National Executive Committee has the final say on Ms Abbott’s candidacy – but a senior party source told the BBC the group will not block her from standing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms Abbott has yet to comment. <\/p>\n

But speaking at a rally outside Hackney Town Hall on Tuesday, she said: “I promise you that as long as it is possible, I will be the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.”<\/p>\n

Left-wing Labour group Momentum called the decision “a huge victory” for Ms Abbott.<\/p>\n

A Momentum spokesperson said: “Starmer tried to force her out. She held firm – and won.<\/p>\n

“You come at the queen, you better not miss.”<\/p>\n

The last week has been dominated by a stand-off between Ms Abbott and the Labour leadership. <\/p>\n

Sir Keir had repeatedly dodged questions on Ms Abbott’s future, even after she appeared to confirm reports in the Times newspaper<\/a> that she had been blocked from standing as a Labour candidate despite having the whip restored.<\/p>\n

On Thursday deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner raised the pressure on Sir Keir, telling Sky News: “I don’t see any reason why Diane Abbott can’t stand as a Labour MP.”<\/p>\n

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “Angela Rayner is pushing Keir Starmer around. <\/p>\n

“Under pressure, he’s showing he’s a weak leader who’s losing control of the Labour Party.”<\/p>\n

Ms Abbott was suspended from Labour last year after suggesting Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experience prejudice, but not racism “all their lives”, sparking a long-running process which saw her sit as an Independent MP.<\/p>\n

She apologised on X, formerly known as Twitter, and withdrew her remarks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said Diane Abbott is “free to go forward as a Labour candidate”, ending days of speculation about the veteran left-winger’s future. Ms Abbott, the first female black MP, had claimed she had been banned from standing for Labour at the general election on 4 July. Sir Keir has now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/af21\/live\/dea606e0-1f42-11ef-8aa6-ed4d7e5d0ef9.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[366,365,508,843,1172,3960],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63156"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63158,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63156\/revisions\/63158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}