Diane Abbott hits out at ‘level of racism still in Britain’ as MP is cheered by supporters at rally
Diane Abbott has appeared at a rally where she hit out at the “level of racism that is still in Britain”, following a row over comments made about her.
Ms Abbott was greeted in Hackney, east London, with cheers and chants of “I stand with Diane” after a Tory donor’s reported offensive remarks.
The former Labour MP praised the people of Hackney whom she said “stood by her – year after year, decade after decade”.
Diane Abbott. File pic: PA
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In the wake of the race row, she said: “This is not about me, this is about the level of racism that is still in Britain. This is about the way that black women are disrespected.”
The MP for Hackney and Stoke Newington, who was suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party last year, went on to say her mother came to Britain in the 1950s as a nurse.
“She was in that generation of black women who built the national health service,” she said.
Ms Abbott, who currently sits as an independent MP in the Commons, attended the rally days after comments by Tory donor Frank Hester emerged in The Guardian.
He reportedly said at a 2019 meeting that she made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.
Mr Hester, who is the chief executive of The Phoenix Partnership, said he was “deeply sorry” for the remarks, but insisted they had “nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.
Frank Hester. Pic: PA/CHOGM Rwanda 2022
The Conservatives have faced pressure to return the money Mr Hester has donated to the party in the wake of the row, which is understood to total £15m since 2019.
There have also been calls among Ms Abbott’s supporters for her to be allowed back into the parliamentary Labour Party again by having the whip restored.
Read more:
Rayner wants Abbott back in parliamentary Labour Party
Ms Abbott had the Labour whip removed from her last year following comments she made in the Observer in which she said Jewish, Irish and Traveller people do not face “racism” but instead suffer prejudice similar to “redheads” – something for which she later apologised.
On Friday night, The Independent reported Ms Abbott had not had the whip restored because she refused to take part in antisemitism training – a claim she rejected as a “blatantly shoddy piece of journalism”.
The Labour Party has said it does not comment on individual cases.
US President Donald Trump says he will review the case of convicted Samourai Wallet developer Keonne Rodriguez, hinting he will explore the possibility of a pardon.
Samourai Wallet co-founders Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill were sentenced on Nov. 19 to five and four years in prison on charges stemming from their involvement in the crypto mixing protocol.
“I’ve heard about it, I’ll look at it,” Trump said when asked about the case at a press conference about the Mexican border at the White House on Monday.
“Okay, let’s take a look at it. You know, you’ll have to tell me. I don’t know anything about it, but we’ll take a look,” he added.
Privacy advocates and crypto users have long been advocating for Rodriguez and Hill, along with Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm, arguing they shouldn’t be held responsible for the actions of third parties using their software.
Samourai co-founder says “noise is working”
Rodriguez, who is due to start his time behind bars this week, said in an X post on Monday that the “continued noise” from supporters is working. “Thank you to everyone pushing Donald Trump to pardon Bill and me. Let’s get this over the line.”
In an interview with Bitcoin educator Natalie Brunell on Friday, Rodriguez said he thought there was a chance of receiving a pardon if the case were presented to Trump and the top officials in the administration.
I appreciate @keonne taking some tough questions on the Samourai Wallet case. No topic was off limits.
Keonne is getting ready to report to prison on December 19th but there is an active movement to #PardonSamourai, and Keonne hopes President Trump hears his story.
If you care… pic.twitter.com/iXg3BXr8iq
— Natalie Brunell ⚡️ (@natbrunell) December 12, 2025
“Because President Trump has been touched by a DOJ that was weaponized against him, I think when he sees the facts laid out on the table, he will know exactly what’s going on,” Rodriguez said.
Conventional appeal is unlikely
Rodriguez also said it’s his understanding he waived his right to appeal the sentence when he took the plea deal, adding that he’s not “100% on that, but my understanding is appeal is pretty unlikely.”
Rodriguez and Hill initially pleaded not guilty but then agreed to plead guilty to one charge of operating an illegal money transmitter in July.
They faced at least 25 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, which carries a sentence of up to five years.
Up until the sentencing hearing, Rodriguez said he regretted pleading guilty but feared the judge wouldn’t allow key evidence to be used in his defense, such as receiving legal advice before launching Samourai Wallet.
Related: After Samourai, DOJ’s money-transmitter theory now looms over crypto mixers
After crunching the numbers, he also found a “conviction means 25 years, even if you appeal, that you’re sitting in prison for five years waiting for your appeal, your appeal is going to cost you another $7 million on top of the four and a half million you’ve already spent to get to this point. So the numbers just didn’t make any sense.”
Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, Ross Ulbricht
Since taking office, Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao in October, after he pleaded guilty in November 2023 to failing to maintain an effective Anti–Money Laundering program at Binance, in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.
Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the defunct darknet marketplace the Silk Road, was also granted a presidential pardon on his life sentence in January.
Magazine: Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years, Bitcoin’s ‘choppy dance’: Hodler’s Digest, Dec. 7 – 13
Politics
Angela Rayner calls on MPs to sit ‘through the night’ to get workers’ rights bill through parliament
Angela Rayner has issued an angry call to MPs to sit “through the night” to stop hereditary peers delaying her flagship employment rights bill.
In an outburst at the start of the latest “ping pong” between the Lords and Commons, she said: “What’s wrong with protecting people from unfair dismissal?”
The former deputy prime minister hit out at the delaying tactics of the House of Lords, with the clock ticking only days before parliament’s Christmas recess.
The bill now goes back to the Lords on Tuesday, when ministers hope peers will drop their opposition so the bill can receive royal assent by the time parliament rises on Thursday.
Ms Rayner’s attack on hereditary peers followed a government defeat in the Lords by 24 votes last week, just days before Sir Keir Starmer created 25 new Labour peers.
“What message does this send to the British public, when 33 hereditary peers have tried to defeat the government by 24 votes on a manifesto promise on sick pay, for example, which will miss the deadline for April for some of the lowest earners from some of the wealthiest?” she declared.
“Shouldn’t we get on, go through the night if we have to, and get this bill passed?”
And employment minister Kate Dearden told MPs: “We have been in ping pong for far too long, and further delay is not in anyone’s best interest.”
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Rayner makes speech on Employment Rights Bill
At the end of an hour-long debate, MPs voted by 311 votes to 96, a majority of 215, to remove a cap on unfair dismissal compensation, overturning a vote in the Lords last week.
In its attempts to get the bill through the Lords, ministers have abandoned day one protection against unfair dismissal and, after a deal with trade unions, replaced it with a six-month qualifying period.
But at the same time the government introduced an 11th hour measure to scrap compensation caps for unfair dismissal, which is currently 52 weeks’ pay or £118,223, whichever is lower.
Read more: Starmer insists budget leaks and leadership speculation did not come from him
Tory MP Andrew Griffith attacked plans to lift a compensation cap. Pic: PA
Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith, who has led Tory opposition to the bill, attacked the removal of a cap.
“It wasn’t in the manifesto, it wasn’t in the bill, it wasn’t in the impact assessment,” he protested.
Earlier, in a boost for the government, six business groups urged peers to back down and end the parliamentary “ping pong” between the Commons and the Lords.
The groups, including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), fear the six-month unfair dismissal compromise agreed with the unions could be at risk.
“To avoid losing the six-month qualifying period, we therefore believe that now is the time for parliament to pass the bill,” they urged in a letter to Business Secretary Peter Kyle.
Mr Kyle said “all parties… have made difficult but necessary compromises to bring this bill forward” and urged “everyone” to recognise business groups and trade unions want it passed “without further delay”.
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