Angela Rayner waded into a furious party row over the future of Diane Abbott today by saying that the veteran leftwinger should be allowed to represent Labour at the next election.
Amid a searing dispute over a ‘purge’ by supporters of Sir Keir Starmer against supporters of Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour deputy leader backed the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP to run on July 4.
Ms Abbott is threatening to run against against Labour as an independent if she is blocked from representing it amid a furious row that has seen several figure son the left of the party blocked from running.
Ms Rayner’s intervention came after Sir Keir had denied purging leftwingers but refused to back down in his campaign to change the party from that led by Mr Corbyn.
In a speech today he said that winning over former Tory voters ‘vindicated’ his leadership and Labour was only interested in the ‘highest quality’ candidates.
Speaking to ITV News later this afternoon Ms Rayner said: I don’t see any reason why Diane Abbott can’t stand as a Labour MP going forward, she has been cleared as part of an investigation.
‘That is the process. I am not involved in that process. And for me I just see that if she wants to stand, I don’t see any reason why she can’t stand.’
Amid a searing dispute over a ‘purge’ by supporters of Sir Keir Starmer against supporters of Jeremy Corbyn , the Labour deputy leader said she could see no reason why ‘ Diane Abbott shouldn’t stand as an MP.’
Ms Rayner’s intervention came after Sir Keir had denied purging leftwingers but refused to back down in his campaign to change the party from that led by Mr Corbyn.
Defiant Dianne Abbot tells her supporters that she will do whatever it takes to stand as an MP for Hackney North
She also lashed out at anonymous briefings against Ms Abbott, saying: ‘Diane Abbott has given 37 years of service to the Labour party and also to the country. She is the first female black MP to come into parliament and she has been a trailblazer.
‘To me she has been iconic in order to give people from her background that you can achieve great things as well. I am not happy that people brief out negatively about our colleagues, I don’t think that is how we should conduct ourselves.’
Ms Abbott last night threatened to quit and join ally Jeremy Corbyn in running against Labour amid claims she was being prevented from running in a ‘disturbing’ purge of his former allies.
At the same time as the row over the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP broke a host of other leftwingers were also blocked from standing, including Brighton Kemptown MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle.
But launching the Welsh Labour election campaign in Abergavenny today Sir Keir praised a speech by a former Tory voter who had switched to support his party.
He said: ‘It means a huge amount to make the big decision to change the party that you vote for as a lifelong Tory voter.
‘For me it vindicates all the hard work of the past four years. I was determined to change this Labour Party and put it back in the service of working people.’
Asked after his speech if he was blocking left-wingers from standing, he said: ‘No. I’ve said repeatedly over the last two years as we’ve selected our candidates that I want the highest-quality candidates. ‘That’s been the position for a very long time.’
Close allies Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn have accused Sir Keir of trying to purge the Left of the party
MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle said he has been suspended by the party over what he called a ‘vexatious and politically motivated complaint’
Faiza Shaheen, Labour’s candidate for Chingford & Woodford Green in northeast London, told Newsnight that the party was pulling her candidacy for allegedly liking a series of Tweets that downplayed antisemitism accusations
Josh Simons, the director of the Starmerite Labour Together think tank, has been made the candidate in Makerfield
Georgia Gould, the leader of Sir Keir Starmer’s local council in Camden, and the daughter of the late Blair adviser Philip Gould, has been made a candidate
Speaking to broadcasters in Monmouthshire, Sir Keir said: ‘The situation in relation to Diane Abbott is that no decision has been taken to bar her and you have to remember that she was a trailblazer as an MP, she overcame incredible challenges to achieve what she achieved in her political career.
‘She carved out a path for others to come into politics and she did all that whilst also being one of the most abused MPs across all political parties.
‘But I’ve always had the aspiration that we will have the best quality candidates as we go into this election.’
In front of around 200 supporters at a rally outside Hackney Town Hall last night, Ms Abbott vowed to stay on as an MP ‘by any means possible’ and accused the Labour party of wanting to ‘exclude’ her from Parliament.
Labour former frontbencher Jess Phillips and six unions affiliated with Labour – Aslef, TSSA, Unite, NUM, CWU and FBU – were among those who called for Ms Abbott to be allowed to stand.
The Tories kicked the bruise today, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt telling the BBC: ‘If Keir Starmer can’t deal with Diane Abbott, how on earth is he doing to deal with Vladimir Putin?’
Shadow Treasury minister Darren Jones this morning denied that she was being blocked from standing, but questioned on Sky News, refused to endorse her running for Labour again.
He later denied on Times Radio that there was a ‘purge’ going on, adding: ‘There are many colleagues of mine in the Parliamentary Labour Party who would define themselves as being on the left who are endorsed Labour Party candidates standing in their constituency.
‘All this is, is that because a snap election has been called, there were a number of outstanding issues with some MPs, obviously retiring MPs in some constituencies where we’ve needed to fill candidates at pace in order to hit the election timetable. And that’s the process that’s unfolding this week.’
