Diane Abbott could lose the chance to fight for the London seat she has held since 1987 if a Labour party investigation into her comments about racism drags on for months.
As two Labour frontbenchers said Abbott should consider stepping down, it emerged that she is unlikely to have the party whip restored before the end of an internal party inquiry into the issue.
While a general election is not expected until autumn next year, many constituencies are already deciding whether to reselect sitting MPs, meaning a long wait risks pushing out Abbott by default from her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat.
The investigation into Abbott’s suggestion that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people faced prejudice akin to “white people with points of difference” such as redheads will determine whether she breached Labour rules, a process insiders say can be lengthy.
Even for MPs it can last many months. Rupa Huq, another London MP, took five months to have the whip restored for comments about Kwasi Kwarteng, the then chancellor, condemned as racist. The veteran MP Nick Brown is still without the whip after it was suspended in September.
Speaking about the subject for the first time on Monday, Keir Starmer condemned Abbott’s comments as “antisemitic”, saying any decision about whether she could stand again would only be made after a formal investigation.
Two Labour frontbenchers, speaking anonymously, said they believed it might be best if Abbott, who is now 69 and has faced health difficulties connected to type 2 diabetes, opts to step down at the next election.
One said: “It seems sad that the as the first black woman to be elected to parliament, and after the racism she has suffered, that she has made these comments. I would like her to be able to retire with some dignity.”
John McDonnell, a close ally of Abbott who was shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, when Abbott served as shadow home secretary, said Abbott’s comments were “a terrible mistake”.
McDonnell told LBC that his work in the 1980s with anti-Irish racism meant he could “completely understand” people’s anger.
But he added: “I hope all those now sitting in judgment of her have the generosity of spirit to acknowledge that for decades she has been at the forefront of campaigning against racism and has endured so much herself. Hopefully we can all learn from this.”
Abbott swiftly apologised for her comments, made in a letter to the Observer on Sunday. She said an “initial draft” of her thoughts had been sent for publication by accident.
Starmer, during a visit to a community project in south London, said: “In my view what she said was to be condemned, it was antisemitic.
“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.”
Asked whether Abbott might be prevented from standing again as a Labour MP, Starmer said: “There’s an investigation in place. I’ve got to let that investigation be completed.”
John Mann, the former Labour MP who is now a peer and advises the government on antisemitism, told Sky News that he believed Abbott should stand down at the election: “I think we are seeing a rather sad end to what has been a very prominent political career.”
Abbott spoke to the Guardian after temporarily stepping down as shadow home secretary due to ill health in 2017, saying her diabetes was “out of control” and affected her ability to do her job adequately. But she added: “it is a condition you can manage”.
