Diane Abbott support for suspended Jewish Voice for Labour activist

Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has joined a suspended Jewish Labour Party activist to show her support, in what will be seen as an overt snub to Labour HQ.

Abbott spoke alongside the suspended Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi at the ‘Solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn’ protest in her Hackney constituency on Sunday, despite party officials investigating the Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) figurehead for her comments.

Wimborne-Idrissi, a longstanding critic of Israeli policy towards the Palestinians, was suspended by Labour earlier this month after criticising Corbyn’s suspension and telling a Chingford and Woodford Green Constituency Labour Party meeting that antisemitism had been “weaponised”.

Also attending on Sunday was fellow JVL member and mathematician Prof Jonathan Rosenhead, as well as Hackney Labour activist Craig Parr, who spoke about the Board of Deputies “choosing to replace” Labour’s outgoing general secretary Jennie Formby in May.

Wimborne-Idrissi has attracted attention of late with her vocal criticism of a report into antisemitism in the Labour Party by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in October.

She has also said that antisemitism is being “wheeled out” as an excuse to silence socialist voices including former Momentum vice-chair Jackie Walker, broadcaster Marc Wadsworth, and former MP Chris Williamson, all of whom support Jeremy Corbyn.