Diane Abbott is "free" to stand as a Labour candidate in the General Election, says Sir Keir Starmer
He made the announcement shortly before 2pm on Friday.
After growing tensions in the party over her political future, the Labour leader on Friday told reporters: "The whip has obviously been restored to her now and she is free to go forward as a Labour candidate."
He praised the Labour veteran as a "trailblazer", saying: "Diane Abbott was elected in 1987, the first black woman MP.
"She has carved a path for other people to come into politics and public life."
Earlier in the day, he had refused to back Ms Abbott standing at the general election for the party as it looks to have a slate of candidates for the “future”.
Senior Labour figures sought to put a lid on the public row over whether the veteran MP, aged 70, should be allowed to stand again as MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.
Deputy Leader Angela Rayner and six union bosses have thrown their support behind Ms Abbott, Britain’s first black female MP.
Ms Abbott, who was suspended from the Labour Parliamentary Party over comments she made about racism, had the whip restored earlier this week.
This was seen at Westminster as part of a plan to allow her to retire as an MP with dignity after her decades-long parliamentary career.
But a huge row erupted after The Times was briefed that the Leftwinger was being barred from standing as an MP.
She later confirmed to The Standard that she believed she was being stopped from standing.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland on Friday morning during a visit north of the border, Sir Keir said the decision on Ms Abbott standing for Labour would be made by the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC).
“Diane Abbott has had the whip returned to her, no decision has been taken to bar her from standing and the NEC will come to a decision in due course,” he said.
Asked if he would like her to be a candidate, the Labour leader added: “Ultimately, that will be a matter for the NEC but no decision has been taken.”
He also praised Ms Abbott, first elected in 1987, as a “trailblazer”.
Shadow science secretary Peter Kyle echoed the “trailblazer” praise and that it was a decision for the NEC.
He added that the issue should be treated with “privacy” and in a “sensitive way as possible”
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Diane Abbott was a trailblazer, we have a lot of respect for that.
“This election, though, is about the future and the NEC will be making sure that our party is fit for the future.”
He also stressed that Sir Keir was seeking to impose “standards” in the party after a string of controversies.
Labour withdrew the whip in April 2023 from Ms Abbott after she suggested Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experienced prejudice, but not racism all their lives.
She later said that she wished to "wholly and unreservedly withdraw my remarks and disassociate myself from them".
Meanwhile, supporters of Faiza Shaheen have announced a rally in support of her General Election candidacy.
Protest organisers have said they will gather outside a supermarket in Highams Park, in the Chingford and Woodford Green constituency.
Ms Shaheen had hoped to contest the north London seat as a Labour candidate, running against Conservative incumbent Sir Iain Duncan Smith, but the party allegedly blocked her from standing over past posts on social media website X.
In a statement on Friday, the organisers said: "We are appalled by the treatment of Faiza Shaheen, who was democratically selected to represent our community. We call for her immediate reinstatement as the Labour Party candidate and the right to vote for her to be our local MP."
Labour has since announced Shama Tatler as its candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green.
Activists held a rally in support of Diane Abbott's candidacy in Hackney earlier this week.
