LONDON, 31 May (AP) — The U.K.’s first Black female member of parliament will be allowed to stand for the Labour Party in the upcoming general election, leader Keir Starmer said Friday following a fractious few days over her political future.
Starmer told reporters that Diane Abbott, who has been a Labour lawmaker since 1987, is “free to stand as a Labour candidate in the election on July 4.
“She is free to go forward as a Labour candidate,” Starmer said.
Her future in the party has been in question over the past year, particularly in the wake of the announcement of the election last week from Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
At the time of that announcement, Abbott, 70, had been in limbo as she was serving a suspension for comments last year that suggested Jewish and Irish people do not experience racism “all their lives.”
Though she apologized instantly for those remarks, the party’s machinery only reinstated Abbott earlier this week, but had not made a decision whether she would be the candidate for her constituency in northeast London.
Over the past few days, Starmer’s attempt to get his party’s message across on a range of issues, including the economy and health, have been overshadowed by questions over Abbott.
Though praising Abbott as a “trailblazer,” Starmer faced accusations that he was purging the more left-wing elements of his party, especially those with a close connection with former leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has been expelled from Labour and is standing as an independent candidate in his constituency in north London.