Comments about racism made by Diane Abbott were “antisemitic”, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said.
In a letter to the Observer newspaper, the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP said Jewish, Irish and Traveller people are not subject to racism “all their lives”.
She was stripped of the Labour whip after the remarks were widely criticised.
Sir Keir, speaking to reporters at St Giles’ Trust in Camberwell on Monday, said: “In my view what she said was to be condemned, it was antisemitic.”
He added: “Diane Abbott has suffered a lot of racial abuse over many many years...that doesn’t take away from the fact that I condemn the words she used and we must never accept the argument that there’s some sort of hierarchy of racism.”
“I will never accept that, the Labour Party will never accept that, and that’s why we acted as swiftly as we did yesterday.”
Sir Keir would not comment on whether Ms Abbott would be prevented from standing as a Labour MP, but said: “There’s an investigation in place.”
Shadow chief secretary to the treasury Pat McFadden branded the comments "completely wrong".
He told Sky News: "It is indisputable that Jewish people, for example, have suffered terrible racism, both in history and it's still going on today, so the chief whip and the party leader had no choice but to take the action that they took."
Mr McFadden added that Sir Keir Starmer was "determined to turn the page on some of the culture that had been in the Labour" under previous leader Jeremy Corbyn.
"The [comments] were offensive to people and based on a very wrong idea that there can be some sort of hierarchy when it comes to victims of racism,” he said.
"Anyone who has looked at the history will know that Jewish people have suffered the most terrible racism. The history of the 20th century is very obvious."
The Government's independent advisor on antisemitism, Lord John Mann, said he expected Ms Abbott to retire as an MP before the next general election.
He described her comments as "historically, factually and politically wrong".
Ms Abbott quickly apologised for her letter after it received widespread condemnation.
"I wish to wholly and unreservedly withdraw my written remarks and disassociate myself from them," she said.
"The errors arose in an initial draft being sent. But there is no excuse and I wish to apologise for any anguish caused.
"Racism takes many forms and it is completely undeniable that Jewish people have suffered its monstrous effects, as have Irish people, Travellers and many others.
"Once again, I would like to apologise publicly for the remarks and any distress caused as a result of them."
She is now one of three London Labour MPs to be suspended from the party.
Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, a long-time ally of Ms Abbott, was stripped of the whip in 2020, following allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party.
Bermondsey and Old Southwark MP Neil Coyle was suspended in February 2022 for the “drunken abuse" of an aide and using "abusive language with racial overtones” towards a journalist.
Ealing Central and Acton MP Rupa Huq was reinstated as a Labour MP in March five months after being suspended for calling then Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng “superficially black”.
A Labour insider on Monday suggested that the party would not want to see Ms Abbott, the first black woman elected to Parliament and longest-serving black MP, suspended for long.
She herself has been subject to much racist abuse since first being elected in 1987. A study by Amnesty International found she was the target of almost half of all the offensive tweets sent to female MPs in the run-up to the 2017 general election, and received 10 times the abuse as any other woman MP.
A Labour spokesperson said: “The Labour party completely condemns these comments which are deeply offensive and wrong.
“The chief whip has suspended the Labour whip from Diane Abbott pending an investigation.”
