No reason Diane Abbott can’t stand in general election as a Labour candidate, says Angela Rayner

Published

4 months ago

May 30, 2024

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Angela Rayner has said Diane Abbott should be able to stand as a Labour candidate – as she denied the party’s leadership is acting in a “factional way”.

The deputy Labour leader told political editor Beth Rigby on the Sky News Daily Podcast that she can’t see any reason why the veteran Corbyn ally “can’t be a Labour MP if that’s what she wants to do”.

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A row erupted over Ms Abbott’s future after she finally had the whip restored following a year-long suspension over comments she made about Jewish people not facing racism.

While the move paved the way for her to fight for her seat in Hackney North, which she has represented for 37 years, there were reports she would be barred from standing.

But Ms Rayner told Sky News: “I don’t think there’s any reason why Diane can’t stand as a Labour MP.

“She’s gone through a process, that’s right… she apologised, as far as I’ve seen, that has been dealt with.

“The whip has told her that she’s back as a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

“I don’t see any reason why she can’t be a Labour MP.”

Asked if she would like to see Ms Abbott fight for her seat in the general election, Ms Rayner said she would like to see her “go on her terms if she wants to or if she wants to stay, then she should be able to stay”.

She called Ms Abbott, the first black woman to be elected to parliament, a “trailblazer” and said briefings about her were “very disrespectful”.

“You’ve got to respect that she is a formidable representative for her constituents and she’s been an inspiration to many people who see that she is a trailblazer,” Ms Rayner said.

“What troubles me is these anonymous briefings.

“Keir absolutely despises them… he doesn’t like anything that looks trashy. He’s not that type of person so I know that he will be as frustrated as I am with these briefings.

“It doesn’t help anyone and it’s very disrespectful to Diane.”

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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday no decision had been made to bar Ms Abbott.

But she refuted this at a rally in Hackney North in which she vowed to stand “by any means possible” and accused the Labour leadership of culling the Labour left.

On Wednesday night another left wing candidate – Faiza Shaheen – was banned from standing for Labour after complaints she “liked” social media posts that allegedly downplayed antisemitism.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who was MP for Brighton Kemptown and also on the left of the party, said he had been suspended by Labour over a “vexatious and politically motivated complaint” against him and said he is not being allowed to stand for the party.

Meanwhile, several candidates loyal to the Labour leadership have been confirmed in safe seats.

The internal chaos has cast a shadow over the party’s general election campaign, which kicked off to a good start with a poll suggesting Labour has a 27-point lead over the Tories.

Ms Rayner defended her boss, saying: “I don’t think Keir is acting in a factional way.”

She added: “You do have factions in the Labour Party, you’ve got that in all political parties. But you know, our party will only succeed if we’re a broad church.”

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer ‘very sensible’ to accept football tickets worth thousands

Published

7 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer 'very sensible' to accept football tickets worth thousands

Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.

The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.

Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.

“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”

Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.

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She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.

“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”

She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.

“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.

“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”

She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.

“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.

“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”

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Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.

The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.

The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.

Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.

Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.