Good morning. The Labour party spent most of yesterday talking about Diane Abbott, and the question of whether an unedifying back-and-forth over her future was evidence of a calculated attack on the party’s left. By the end of the day, two other prominent left-wing candidates had been suspended, and a group of candidates who stand firmly on Labour’s right had been abruptly parachuted into winnable seats. So there doesn’t seem much suspense about that question any more.
Yesterday began with Britain’s first Black female MP confirming a story in the Times saying that she would not be allowed to stand, only for Keir Starmer to claim that “no decision has been taken to bar Diane Abbott”. Last night, Abbott said that she wanted to be an MP as long as possible. As of now, she is a Labour MP, and the party’s candidate for Hackney North and Stoke Newington is yet to be confirmed.
