Veteran Member of Parliament Diane Abbott, Britain's longest-serving female legislator, has once again been suspended by the Labour Party, Reuters reports.
The disciplinary action, announced Thursday, stems from Abbott's recent defense of previous comments concerning racism, which had initially led to her suspension in 2023.
Abbott, a prominent figure in British left-wing politics and the first Black woman elected to Parliament, faced her initial suspension from the Labour Party in 2023. At that time, she stated that the prejudice experienced by Jewish people was akin to, but distinct from, racism.
She subsequently issued an apology and retracted her remarks. The 71-year-old lawmaker was readmitted to the Labour Party just weeks prior to the national election in July 2024, a decision that followed internal party pressure.
However, in an interview on Thursday, when asked by BBC Radio if she regretted the 2023 incident, Abbott responded, "No, not at all."
She elaborated on her perspective, stating, "Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about color and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don't know. But if you see a black person walking down the street, you see straight away that they're black. They are different types of racism."
Following these remarks, a spokesperson for the Labour Party confirmed that Abbott had been "administratively suspended pending an investigation."
In 2018, Abbott caused an uproar when she used a doctored image showing an Israeli fighter plane bombing Tehran to illustrate a social media comment on a joint strike on Syria by the UK, US, and France.
Abbott also spoke at an anti-Israel demonstration in 2014. Moments before she took the stage, an organizer described Abbot as “a great friend of Palestine and an advocate and outspoken campaigner against the illegal occupation of Palestine.”
Her re-suspension highlights the ongoing efforts by Labour leader Keir Starmer to address accusations of antisemitism within the party, a pervasive issue that emerged under the leadership of former leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The Labour Party came under fire under Corbyn, both over Corbyn’s own antisemitism as well as the rise in anti-Jewish rhetoric within the party.
Dozens of Labour members have been suspended over their antisemitic statements in recent years, while the party has been criticized for its failure to deal with the antisemitism within it.
Corbyn stepped down after the Labour Party had its poorest showing since 1935 in the elections. He was later suspended from Labour following the publication of a report which found numerous cases where the party leadership under Corbyn underplayed, belittled or ignored complaints by Jewish members, and sometimes actively interfered to support political allies.
Starmer has publicly committed to eradicating discrimination and harassment against Jewish people from the party's ranks. His year-old premiership has seen the suspension of several Labour lawmakers, including four on Wednesday alone.