Diane Abbott has accused Keir Starmer of treating her like a “non-person” during the row over comments made by a Conservative Party donor.
Earlier this year, Abbott was at the centre of a major political controversy after comments made by Frank Hester — who has donated £20m to the Conservative Party since the start of 2023 — were reported by The Guardian.
Hester, chief executive of The Phoenix Partnership (TPP), is reported to have said while speaking about a female executive from another company: “It’s like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV, and you’re just like… you just want to hate all Black women because she’s there.
“And I don’t hate all Black women at all, but I think she should be shot. [The executive] and Diane Abbott need to be shot.”
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Hester apologised for his “rude” remarks, but denied they were to do with her gender or the colour of her skin.
At the time, Starmer was urged to return the whip to Abbott, and the then-independent MP accused the party leadership of “digging in” over the issue.
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Commenting on the row, which culminated in Abbott eventually being allowed to stand as a Labour candidate at the general election in July, the veteran MP said she expected more support from the prime minister and the Labour Party.
Addressing Hester’s comments specifically, Abbott said: “One of the reasons it made me frightened is two MPs have been killed in recent years.”
She told BBC’s Newsnight comments such as Hester’s “wind up a certain sort of nutcase and it makes you more vulnerable”.
Despite feeling unsafe, Abbott said the Labour leader “never reached out to me personally and did treat me as a non-person”.
Abbott said: “If somebody was threatening to have you shot, you would have felt your party would have offered you more support, giving you advice on safety and security, even kind of commiserate with you. And none of that happened.”
She also told Newsnight of her suspension from the Parliamentary Labour Party that the now-PM “wanted to finish his clear-out” of left-wingers.
Abbott added: “I think what they were trying to do was to string out and string out the investigation. So when a general election is around the corner, they could just move me out of the way as a Labour candidate because I wouldn’t be in the parliamentary Labour Party, and they would parachute in somewhere else.”
Asked why she thought Starmer wanted her out of the party, Abbott said: “Keir Starmer is always saying, It’s the new Labour Party… and how could you make it look more new than by getting rid of Diane Abbott?”
A Labour spokesman said: “Keir Starmer has great respect for Diane Abbott and she continues to be an inspiration to many. There is no doubt that she has received the most abuse of any MP just because of her gender and the colour of her skin, and that is completely reprehensible and wrong.
“The party, including Keir Starmer, vocally condemned Frank Hester’s vile comments and reached out to Diane at the time to offer support.
“It’s simply wrong to say that there was any plan being pushed by the leadership to force her out. We continue to value Diane’s significant contribution to public life.”
Abbott’s suspension as a Labour MP came after the MP wrote a letter suggesting Jewish people are not subjected to the same racism as some other minorities. Abbott apologised over the comments and said the letter published in The Observer had been an “initial draft” sent by mistake.
The letter stated that Jewish, Irish and traveller communities have experienced “prejudice”, but added: “This is similar to racism and the two words are often used as if they are interchangeable”.
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