Diane Abbott vows to ‘run and to win’ as Labour’s candidate after bitter internal party row
DIANE Abbott declared she intends to “run and to win” as Labour’s candidate after her political future sparked a huge row within the party.
The veteran Corbynista also denied reports she had been offered a peerage by the leadership as a trade-off for stepping down.
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer finally green-lighted her candidacy on Friday after days of pressure from other senior party figures, including from his deputy Angela Rayner.
Responding to reports she was still weighing up options, Ms Abbott wrote 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.”
Ms Abbott was suspended last year for suggesting Jews, like redheads, do not experience racism in the same way as black people do.
She had the Labour whip restored last week but briefings swirled that she would be barred from running in the general election amid a cull against lefties in the candidate selection.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday had to deny reports left-wing MPs, including Ms Abbott, were offered peerages so that allies of Sir Keir could take their seats.
She told Sky News: “No party can do that, it’s not the way the system works.”
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins waded into the row, accusing Labour of having an “identity crisis” by welcoming hard-right Tories while turfing out left-wingers.
She said the defection of such a “hard-right” politician like Natalie Elphicke to Labour was a “great surprise”, adding: “But then we see this week from Labour that Sir Keir Starmer can’t work out whether Diane Abbott, one of his longest-standing and trailblazing Members of Parliament, should in fact be a Member of Parliament.
“He can’t work it out. So, it shows that there is a bit of an identity crisis within Labour.”
A close friend of Ms Abbott, Labour peer Baroness Chakrabarti, said earlier on Sunday the veteran MP was still considering her future.
But she also told the BBC “trying to bully someone of her stature” had been “pretty appalling”, adding: “It’s not good for Keir Starmer’s leadership, it’s not good for the Labour Party, and it hasn’t been very hasn’t been very nice for Diane and for common decency”.