Labour civil war as Diane Abbott accuses party of 'institutional racism' in brutal attack
The Labour grandee fired shots at the party leadership and claimed black members were "taken for granted".
Labour's Diane Abbott has sensationally claimed that the party is guilty of "institutional racism" during an event on London's Southbank.
The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP was speaking to Afua Hirsch in the run-up to the release of her memoir 'A Woman Like Me' at the Southbank Centre in the capital last night.
According to UnHerd, she insisted "there is no doubt that there’s institutional racism in the Labour Party", and added that "Labour takes black members and supporters for granted."
The veteran MP had the whip removed after claiming that Jews that did not experience racism "prejudice". She had the whip reinstated in May.
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The Corbyn ally also blasted the Prime Minister for the his purge of Labour left.
She said Sir Keir Starmer was “harsher than Tony Blair” in his treatment of the left-wing of the party, arguing that “the left of the party is on the downturn at the minute.”
She added that “it’s corrosive if you’re not willing to listen to your members, your MPs and the public”, going on to say that “the idea that you have pliant voters” is “very wrong”.
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But it wasn't just her own party that Ms Abbott fired on last night. She also had a fair dose of criticism for a leading light in the opposition.
Kemi Badenoch is still in the running for the Tory leadership. Ms Abbott accused her of using racial politics to get ahead.
Asked whether there were ethnic-minority MPs in Britain who were, in host Hirsch’s words, “anti-black”, Abbott reportedly said that “Kemi [Badenoch] has really advanced her career by saying those sorts of things.”
