I miss my late husband, Bernie Grant, every day, but was painfully reminded of the challenges he faced as one of the first black MPs by Diane Abbott’s experience (Frank Hester’s ugly words about me are a reminder: all parties, including Labour, must stand against racism, 13 March). Labour’s difficulties on race are deep-seated and longstanding, and it has always weaponised or trumpeted the issue at its convenience.
The first black MPs for almost 100 years – Bernie, Abbott and Paul Boateng – walked a tightrope to become selected and then again to get elected, and re-elected. Another candidate, Sharon Atkin, was deselected in 1987 for declaring the Labour party was racist. As they sought to establish the first black presence in parliament, there were huge expectations, and at the same time vicious abuse in the gutter press, intrusion into our families, threats of violence and, at best, condescension from parliamentarians themselves, as they sought to reflect the pressing issues facing the black community.
