The UK’s opposition party has suspended lawmaker Diane Abbott pending an investigation after she wrote a letter saying that Jewish people do not face the same sort of racism as Black people.
(Bloomberg) — The UK’s opposition party has suspended lawmaker Diane Abbott pending an investigation after she wrote a letter saying that Jewish people do not face the same sort of racism as Black people.
Abbott, who was home affairs spokeswoman under Labour’s former leader Jeremy Corbyn, wrote a letter to the UK’s Observer newspaper in which she said Irish, Jewish and Travelers experience prejudice rather than racism. She subsequently apologized for the letter on Twitter, saying she unreservedly withdraws the remarks.
“The Labour Party completely condemns these comments, which are deeply offensive and wrong,” a spokesman said. “The chief whip has suspended the Labour whip from Diane Abbott pending an investigation.” That means that Abbott can’t vote as a Labour member.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has sought to move his party on from its divisive recent past and firmly establish it as a government-in-waiting after 13 years of Conservative rule in Britain. Accusations of antisemitism hampered Labour’s bid for government under Corbyn, who led the party to its worst electoral defeat in 85 years in 2019.
Earlier this year Starmer blocked Corbyn from standing as a candidate for the party at the next general election, as the opposition seeks to draw a line under the antisemitism scandals that have plagued its recent past.
Starmer Blocks Corbyn From Standing for UK Labour at Election
Abbott has been a member of Parliament since 1987.
(Updates with Labour Party comments in third paragraph.)
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