Diane Abbott Readmitted to Labour Party After Year-Long Suspension

Britain’s longest-serving female MP, Diane Abbott, has been readmitted to the Labour party, a year after she was suspended amid a purge of leftwing figures under former leader Keir Starmer.

Abbott, who became the first Black female MP to enter parliament in 1987, was suspended in July 2025 after she said Black people experience racism differently to Jewish people, sparking accusations of antisemitism. 

In a tweet on Friday, Abbott said she had been readmitted following an internal process and independent review. She also apologised for a tweet that referred to the Israel Defense Forces as the ‘Jewish Defence Force’, for which she received a separate formal warning. 

“I have remained a life-long anti-racist and remain deeply committed to opposing racism in all its forms,” she added. 

The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington was first stripped of the Labour whip in 2023 for saying that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experience prejudice differently to Black people. Following an investigation, Abbott was reinstated in May 2024 – but suspended last July after sticking to her point in a conversation with the BBC. 

“Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don’t know,” Abbott said at the time.

“I just think that it’s silly to try to claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism. I don’t know why people would say that.”

Her suspension sparked outcry amongst the Labour left, at a time when Starmer had removed the whip from several socialist MPs, including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. 

After Burnham became Labour leader, more than 25,000 people signed a petition urging him to reinstate Abbott. The decision to do so was made by his new chief whip, Anneliese Midgley. 

Joani Reid, the MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, was also reinstated to Labour on Thursday. She had voluntarily stepped back whilst her husband was being investigated for allegedly spying on behalf of China.