Diane Abbott has just confirmed that she intends to run as a Labour candidate at the general election.
The veteran MP, first elected in 1987, has been the subject of much speculation in recent weeks over whether or not she would run for Keir Starmer’s party.
In a social media post on Sunday, Abbott said: “I intend to run and to win as Labour’s candidate.”
While she had the Labour whip returned to her last week – after 13 months of suspension – there were also reports she would be still banned from standing in her constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington.
This sparked uproar from Abbott’s supporters. At a rally arranged in her honour earlier this week, she told backers that Labour “just want me excluded from parliament”.
Starmer initially side-stepped questions about her candidacy.
However, when his deputy Angela Rayner said Abbott should be allowed to stand, he U-turned.
The Labour leader said the veteran MP was “free” to represent his party at the polls on Friday.
Over the weekend, there were new claims that Labour was considering offering peerages to left-wing MPs to exchange for giving up their seats amid a suspected purge of the party.
But Abbott dispelled these claims, writing on X: “This is factually incorrect.
“I have never been offered a seat in the Lords, and would not accept one if offered.
“I am the adopted Labour candidate for Hackney North & Stoke Newington.
“I intend to run and to win as Labour’s candidate.”
Abbott was suspended by the party in April last year over a letter she sent to The Observer suggesting that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people are not subject to racism “all their lives”.
She later apologised and retracted the remarks.
Labour’s probe into her actions concluded in December.
National Executive Committee then issued her with a “formal warning” for “engaging in conduct that in the opinion of the NEC, prejudicial and grossly detrimental to the Labour Party”.
At the committee’s request, Abbott completed an “online e-learning module” in February, a move allegedly acknowledged by the chief whip, although she did not get the whip back until May.
