Investigation recommends Diane Abbott’s readmission to Labour Party after antisemitism row

An independent investigation into Diane Abbott’s suspension from the Labour after she defended comments claiming Jewish people do not experience racism but “prejudice” has concluded and recommended she be readmitted to the party, Jewish News has learned.

The 72-year-old Labour veteran and MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington was suspended for the second time in July last year after saying she did not regret remarks in which she claimed Jewish people do not experience racism but are instead subjected to “prejudice”.

The investigation, which was outsourced following changes to Labour’s disciplinary procedures recommended by the equalities watchdog the EHRC, has now handed its findings to Labour’s chief whip, who will now rubber stamp the final decision.

Get The Jewish News Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

It is understood the year-long disciplinary probe into her comments has concluded with the suggestion Abbott should be readmitted to the party, and that she should receive a formal warning and be told not to repeat the offensive remarks.

The 72-year-old Labour veteran and MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington was suspended for the second time in July last year after saying she did not regret remarks in which she claimed Jewish people do not experience racism but are instead subjected to “prejudice”.

More in UK News

5 hours ago

Woman charged after eggs allegedly thrown at pro-Israel protesters outside Hackney Town Hall

By Annabel Sinclair

7 hours ago

Jesse Jackson’s daughter tells Holocaust survivors: ‘I have to live my truth’

By Annabel Sinclair

8 hours ago

Hackney mayor sorry for ‘staggeringly insensitive’ 7 October consultation deadline

By Annabel Sinclair

Communal organisations reacted furiously to news that Abbott could be allowed back into the party, which had earlier emerged in a report published by The Sun newspaper.

“It is hard to conceive of the whip being restored unless there is clear and sustained evidence of genuine remorse,” said Board of Deputies president Phil Rosenberg.

“The Prime Minister must explain how returning the Labour whip to Diane Abbott is consistent with his zero tolerance approach to antisemitism,” said the Jewish Leadership Council.

But one Labour source said:”I guess decisions like this happen when you outsource your complaints process.”

In a letter to The Observer newspaper in 2023, Abbott argued that people of colour experienced racism “all their lives” and that this was different to the “prejudice” experienced by Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers.

Shortly after it was published, she issued a statement saying she wished to “wholly and unreservedly withdraw my remarks and disassociate myself from them”.

In an interview last year on BBC Radio 4’s Reflections programme, she said she did not look back on the incident with regret.

“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,” said Abbott.

“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.”

Asked whether her original remarks were wrong, she responded: “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.”