The Mother of the House Diane Abbott has had the Labour whip restored just under two weeks into Andy Burnham’s premiership.
Burnham had faced calls from MPs including John McDonnell and Clive Lewis to restore the Labour whip to Abbott.
This week, a petition calling on the prime minister to immediately reinstate Abbott to the Labour Party organised by the Labour Assembly Against Austerity gathered almost 40,000 signatures.
Abbott first had the Labour whip withdrawn in April 2023 after writing a letter to the Observer in which she argued that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experienced prejudice rather than racism. She apologised and withdrew the remarks, saying an earlier draft had mistakenly been submitted for publication.
She then had the whip reinstated just before the 2024 general election.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4 last year, the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP said she did not regret her previous comments about racism, which led to her having the whip removed for a second time.
A government source told The Guardian that Abbott’s readmission had nothing to do with Burnham’s regime change, and that if she repeats these comments, or makes antisemitic remarks, “she’ll have to go again”.
In a statement posted on her X account on Thursday, Abbott said: “Today, following a process conducted in line with party rules and approved by the independent review process, I have been readmitted to the Labour party.
“I have been issued with a formal warning for a tweet I previously posted. By inadvertently referring to the Israeli Defence Force as the ‘Jewish Defence Force’, I used wording that conflates the actions of the state of Israel with the Jewish community.
“I am deeply sorry for any hurt caused by that conflation and apologise for any hurt caused by it.
“I have been and remain a lifelong anti-racist and remain deeply committed to opposing racism in all its forms.”
Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary of transport union the TSSA, reacted to the news on X, stating: “Welcome back @HackneyAbbott. Great to see her suspension lifted and her place in the Labour Party restored. Hopefully @KarlTurnerMP is next to be unsuspended.”
Karl Turner, the MP for Hull East, was suspended from the Labour Party in March over criticism of the government’s plan to scrap jury trials for criminal offences likely to carry a prison sentence of three years or less.
Following an internal party investigation, fellow Labour MP Joani Reid was also readmitted to the party on Thursday evening.
Reid resigned the Labour Party whip in March, after her husband was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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