Keir Starmer has been accused of “marginalising” black leftwing Labour MPs after they claimed they were not invited to a crunch event aimed at regaining the confidence of BAME party members.
Diane Abbott described the event as a “PR exercise” and criticised the party for excluding MPs including Clive Lewis, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Dawn Butler, Florence Eshalomi and Marsha de Cordova.
The event on Saturday, the first of its kind, aimed to ease tensions with black and Asian members after the Forde report found Labour had not done enough to tackle anti-black racism and Islamophobia in the party.
Starmer is understood to have addressed members in the morning, reiterating his pledge that his Labour government would introduce a landmark new race equality act, implement all the Lammy review recommendations and create a curriculum to reflect Britain’s diverse history and society.
But a number of members were left disappointed, claiming the sessions did not give them an open chance to address their concerns or participate in “transparent conversations”.
“How can you have an event about black issues and not invite black MPs?” Abbott said. “It’s quite factional but it’s also not acceptable to marginalise black MPs in this way. What’s bizarre is that the final session was about the barriers to gaining black, asian and minority ethnic leadership in the Labour party. One of the barriers is actually treating black people in leadership positions like this.”
She added: “This was a PR exercise rather than a genuine attempt from the party to find out the concerns of black members.”
Labour insiders say it is not true that black MPs were not invited, insisting the invitations were widely distributed, the sessions were well-attended and had black MPs in every session. But they acknowledged the party had more work to do.
A senior BAME Labour insider also rubbished claims that black MPs were not invited, classing their concerns as “tiring” and unhelpful to restoring relations between members and the party.
But a number of members were concerned that MPs included on the panel were from the right of the party, and were left disappointed that not everyone’s concerns were heard.
Maurice Mcleod, a Labour member who attended the event, criticised the party for “antagonising” some black members and not enabling them to take part in a larger discussion.
