As we move even closer to the general election, race, whether explicitly or implicitly, is at the heart of the debate in British politics. And the issue is not just about a particular political party, but all of our institutions.
I was in the chamber of the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon for prime minister’s questions. I wanted to put a question to the prime minister about Frank Hester and his racist comments. Over the nearly 40 years that I have been an MP, under any speaker of the House of Commons that I can remember, I would have been called. I thought, in particular, that I would’ve been called on Wednesday, because Hester’s abusive comments about me had led the news bulletins that day, and I was referred to several times in PMQs itself. I cannot say why Lindsay Hoyle would not call me. He claimed there wasn’t enough time after going through those listed on the order paper. But I’m not convinced – and, the truth is, he can call on whoever he likes.
There have been days of discussion about the Conservative party’s biggest donor, Hester, saying in 2019: “It’s like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV and you’re just like, I hate, you just want to hate all black women because she’s there, and I don’t hate all black women at all, but I think she should be shot.”
Reading his remarks, I was upset but not surprised. This is partly because I am hardened to racist abuse. I receive hundreds of abusive emails, phone calls and letters monthly, and the numbers shoot up whenever I am in the media.
Most of this correspondence targets my appearance, questions my intelligence and features classic racist lines such as: “Go back to where you come from.” Recently, the abuse has taken an even darker turn, with accusations of child abuse. For instance: “If you and your child want to fuck children, go back to one of your sick third-world shitholes and bury yourself, sicko.”
But as the election draws nearer, and Labour stays 20 points ahead in the polls, the Tories are desperate. Their political trump card has always been low taxes and the sound management of the economy. But Liz Truss blew out of the water any claim the Tories had to superior economic competence, and taxation is now at its highest sustained level on record. So the only card the Tories have left to play is the race card, and they are going to play it ruthlessly.
We see this in Rishi Sunak’s attachment to the Rwanda scheme, in which would-be asylum seekers would be dumped there. Even Tories are attacking the scheme. Ken Clarke, the former Conservative chancellor and a former Lord Chancellor, said earlier this year that he cannot support the legislation because overruling a Supreme Court judgment would be a “very dangerous constitutional provision”. Sunak clings to the Rwanda scheme not because it is workable, but because it proves to a certain sort of voter how tough he is prepared to be on asylum – seekers.
For months now, the Tories have been talking about “extremists”. This is about the left, but it is also a code word for Muslims. Ever since the atrocities of 7 October, the right have complained bitterly about the ceasefire marches in Britain, saying that they are “hate” marches and complaining (implicitly) that the police are not arresting enough people. The Metropolitan police are not bleeding-heart liberals, but they cannot arrest people (under the eye of the world’s media) if no actual crime has been committed. But the Tories’ underlying Islamophobic narrative demands that they continue to complain about the forces of law and order. It’s an unusual position for Conservative politicians.
But, sadly, racism in politics is not just a matter for any one political party. In 2022, the Forde Report – commissioned by Keir Starmer – into allegations of racism, sexism and bullying in the Labour party was finally published. Martin Forde himself is a distinguished King’s counsel. His report set out how abusive senior Labour party officials were about me in their WhatsApp groups. Among other things, they said that “[Diane Abbott] literally makes me sick” and that I was “truly repulsive”.
The report went on to point out that the criticisms of me by these senior Labour staff were “not simply a harsh response to perceived poor performance – they are expressions of visceral disgust, drawing (consciously or otherwise) on racist tropes, and they bear little resemblance to the criticisms of white male MPs elsewhere in the messages”. They did not actually call for me to be shot but the tenor was not dissimilar to what Hester said. However, to this day none of the individuals concerned have apologised to me, and the Labour party has not apologised to me personally.
As the general election draws near, it will be important for the Labour party to step up to challenge racism, even if it costs us a few points in the polls. Starmer did refer to me in PMQs but all the indications are that the people around him are digging in against any suggestion that I should have the whip restored. It will be both sad and strange if Starmer throws Britain’s first black woman MP out of the PLP because of an eight-line letter, for which I immediately apologised. But the most important thing is that the Labour party holds fast to its anti-racist tradition.
Diane Abbott is the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington
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