The former shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, this week exercised some unexpectedly excellent judgment: she deleted one of her Tweets. On Tuesday she had told her followers: “Wes Streeting [the shadow health secretary] dismisses importance of vaccination. Wants it done at the chemist.” This opening volley was odd enough, suggesting that the importance of a vaccination is somehow changed if it is administered anywhere other than in a hospital or doctor’s surgery. But there was more of Abbott’s thought process to come.
“Polio victims used to be incarcerated in ‘iron lungs’. Thanks to vaccination no-one has caught polio in the UK since 1980. But does Wes care?” Wiser counsels apparently prevailed and the tweet was live for no more than a few hours. But nothing truly disappears once it’s appeared online and there are plenty of screenshots of the statement for those who can be bothered to look for it.
It will come as no surprise that Wes Streeting, and indeed his boss, Keir Starmer, are not natural allies of Abbott, given her long-time membership of the Campaign for Socialism group of hard-Left MPs in Parliament and her reliable support for causes that are considered electorally toxic by most voters. Even before Russia invaded Ukraine last year, she issued a video in which she criticised Nato for its “eastward expansion”, preparing the way for her fellow fellow travellers to allow Putin to escape the blame for his eventual invasion.
This is a standard tactic in hard-Left politics: to criticise one’s own country – and, of course , the United States – rather than the obvious culprit. Only days later, Abbott was one of 11 Labour MPs who signed a letter sponsored by Stop The War – a coalition of anti-West groups led by the revolutionary Marxist outfit, the Socialist Workers’ party – repeating the claim that the invasion was all the West’s fault. By this time, Starmer had obviously lost patience with his colleagues, and warned them that if they didn’t withdraw their names, and if they attended a Stop The War rally aimed at criticising Nato instead of Russia, they would all lose the Labour whip.
And so, like the brave class warriors they are, they capitulated. Every one of them. But that hasn’t prevented Abbott in particular continuing to take pot shots at her own party, and its leader in particular. “Keir Starmer has joined the right in calling for the ‘reform’ of the NHS. And we all know what that means”, she wrote cryptically on Monday. What does it mean, Diane? Alas, there was no follow-up tweet, but we may assume that her theory, whatever it is, does not cast Starmer in a good light.
But it’s the “iron lung” tweet that will cause most eyebrows to be raised in the office of the Leader of the Opposition. Suggesting that the shadow health secretary has dismissed the importance of vaccinations is actually a pretty serious charge in these days of widespread disinformation and scepticism about vaccinations. That the accusation seems to rest on no evidence whatever raises even more question marks about how fit Abbott is to remain as an MP and Labour candidate into the next general election.
Starmer has dealt impressively and swiftly with his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn – now whipless after his refusal to acknowledge the extent of anti-Semitism in the party under his leadership and all but guaranteed not to be an official Labour candidate at the election. That Abbott and her socialist colleagues retreated over the Stop The War letter and rally suggests that they are learning to fear Starmer’s method of enforcing discipline in the party, perhaps astounded that, unlike all his predecessors, he actually means it.
But Abbott is more than just an eccentric voice on the fringes; she has a high profile and has, therefore, the potential to do the Labour brand genuine harm with her weird theories and non-stop criticism of her own party’s leadership as somehow in thrall to the Right. And there you have the core of the problem – and its solution: “Her own party’s leadership”. Why is Labour still her party? Why does she still retain membership of the party of Ernest Bevin and Clem Attlee, the creators of Nato? How does a woman who voted with the Conservatives on hundreds of occasions while Labour was in government still retain the party whip?
Her latest smear of Wes Streeting received hardly any attention, partly because such ravings are expected of her and can be easily dismissed. But is that a reason to allow her to continue in receipt of the party whip? Starmer has done a fine job of getting Labour’s house in order. The expulsion of Diane Abbott needs to be next on his “to do” list.
It must be nice to be a Telegraph journalist and live in a world without nuance. Nuance is a ball-ache.
Diane Abbot is a good constituency MP (what I believe from her elections) but lousy at anything more senior.
I cant imagine she has anything more than one term left to give anyway
Interesting article from the Torygraph. Some of labour is questioning the political integrity of a single MP so she should be expelled. Yet most of the country has questioned the political integrity of the last 3 Tory PMs and most of the front bench.
People like Diane abbott should have the whip removed for two reasons.
One attacking your own party with false claims. Claiming the shadow health secretary hates pharmacists and is anti vaccine or that starmer wants to take the NHS private is not only wrong but it’s libellous to some degree. She is on purpose damaging the party.
Secondly it’s pretty obvious ever since starmer took the whip of Corbyn she has become so hostile to the leadership that it’ consumes her day and night.
Diane abbott would still get her paycheck if there was a Tory victory tomorrow in an election so she doesn’t care about a labour victory.
But it’s the people who are going to suffer. Keir starmer has to understand when someone keeps goading you or your party and makes false claims against it then you to take action against them. The backlash from the left will be nothing compared to positives of having someone as crazy as Abbott outside of the plp for good.
Grow some balls starmer. Get rid of Abbott before she damages your brand for good
She is inept. She is a hindrance to the labour party, a real reason more people can’t get behind them
She’s an absolute liability and it would do Labour wonders to get rid of her.
By turning the Labour party into the Tory party we can get the Labour party elected. But what’s the point?
Given what Tom Harris says that he dislikes about Diane Abbot, he’s going to be absolutely shocked if anyone ever tells him about most of the Tory MPs!
She’s not the sharpest knife in the draw and she’s largely inept, but it’s good to have diversity in the HoCs.
Always though the obsession with her is kind of weird. She is consistently voted in by her constituency, she’s obviously doing something right locally. She has made a few gaffs but literally nothing worse than many other MPs have done, no where near as bad as e.g. “I was drinking 200 units of alcohol a week so I couldn’t stop myself going on racist tirades” MP or “I know there’s a global crisis going on with covid and hundreds of thousands of people need support due to circumstances entirely out of their control, but honestly if the government gave these people any support they’d just waste it all on crack and hookers” another Tory MP.
Somehow these slip under the radar time and time again but we’re supposed to be outraged because Abbott deleted a tweet.
She did say something daft about an area of policy which isn’t controversial in the slightest, but that’s hardly cause to expel her.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again:
**The Telegraph will not tell Labour how to win an election, because the Telegraph _do not want_ Labour to win elections.**
In fact, I’d go slightly further, and say that if the Telegraph is saying Labour should do something, they instead should endeavour to do the exact opposite.
No need, just deselect her for 2024 and wish her well for retirement
She’s a complete and utter moron. Surprised she hasn’t been kicked out considering her constant attacks.
She’s a Russian sympathising, socialist. She belongs chairing for whatever party them green and pleasant lads are supporting.
I agree, she’s a gaff machine, but she is smart in her brain, she just has trouble communicating.
I thought this was going to be about the new “Velma.”
What is with these transparent agenda posts from certain prolific users going unchecked by the mods?
What’s the point of subreddit rules if they aren’t enforced?
19 comments
The former shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, this week exercised some unexpectedly excellent judgment: she deleted one of her Tweets. On Tuesday she had told her followers: “Wes Streeting [the shadow health secretary] dismisses importance of vaccination. Wants it done at the chemist.” This opening volley was odd enough, suggesting that the importance of a vaccination is somehow changed if it is administered anywhere other than in a hospital or doctor’s surgery. But there was more of Abbott’s thought process to come.
“Polio victims used to be incarcerated in ‘iron lungs’. Thanks to vaccination no-one has caught polio in the UK since 1980. But does Wes care?” Wiser counsels apparently prevailed and the tweet was live for no more than a few hours. But nothing truly disappears once it’s appeared online and there are plenty of screenshots of the statement for those who can be bothered to look for it.
It will come as no surprise that Wes Streeting, and indeed his boss, Keir Starmer, are not natural allies of Abbott, given her long-time membership of the Campaign for Socialism group of hard-Left MPs in Parliament and her reliable support for causes that are considered electorally toxic by most voters. Even before Russia invaded Ukraine last year, she issued a video in which she criticised Nato for its “eastward expansion”, preparing the way for her fellow fellow travellers to allow Putin to escape the blame for his eventual invasion.
This is a standard tactic in hard-Left politics: to criticise one’s own country – and, of course , the United States – rather than the obvious culprit. Only days later, Abbott was one of 11 Labour MPs who signed a letter sponsored by Stop The War – a coalition of anti-West groups led by the revolutionary Marxist outfit, the Socialist Workers’ party – repeating the claim that the invasion was all the West’s fault. By this time, Starmer had obviously lost patience with his colleagues, and warned them that if they didn’t withdraw their names, and if they attended a Stop The War rally aimed at criticising Nato instead of Russia, they would all lose the Labour whip.
And so, like the brave class warriors they are, they capitulated. Every one of them. But that hasn’t prevented Abbott in particular continuing to take pot shots at her own party, and its leader in particular. “Keir Starmer has joined the right in calling for the ‘reform’ of the NHS. And we all know what that means”, she wrote cryptically on Monday. What does it mean, Diane? Alas, there was no follow-up tweet, but we may assume that her theory, whatever it is, does not cast Starmer in a good light.
But it’s the “iron lung” tweet that will cause most eyebrows to be raised in the office of the Leader of the Opposition. Suggesting that the shadow health secretary has dismissed the importance of vaccinations is actually a pretty serious charge in these days of widespread disinformation and scepticism about vaccinations. That the accusation seems to rest on no evidence whatever raises even more question marks about how fit Abbott is to remain as an MP and Labour candidate into the next general election.
Starmer has dealt impressively and swiftly with his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn – now whipless after his refusal to acknowledge the extent of anti-Semitism in the party under his leadership and all but guaranteed not to be an official Labour candidate at the election. That Abbott and her socialist colleagues retreated over the Stop The War letter and rally suggests that they are learning to fear Starmer’s method of enforcing discipline in the party, perhaps astounded that, unlike all his predecessors, he actually means it.
But Abbott is more than just an eccentric voice on the fringes; she has a high profile and has, therefore, the potential to do the Labour brand genuine harm with her weird theories and non-stop criticism of her own party’s leadership as somehow in thrall to the Right. And there you have the core of the problem – and its solution: “Her own party’s leadership”. Why is Labour still her party? Why does she still retain membership of the party of Ernest Bevin and Clem Attlee, the creators of Nato? How does a woman who voted with the Conservatives on hundreds of occasions while Labour was in government still retain the party whip?
Her latest smear of Wes Streeting received hardly any attention, partly because such ravings are expected of her and can be easily dismissed. But is that a reason to allow her to continue in receipt of the party whip? Starmer has done a fine job of getting Labour’s house in order. The expulsion of Diane Abbott needs to be next on his “to do” list.
It must be nice to be a Telegraph journalist and live in a world without nuance. Nuance is a ball-ache.
Diane Abbot is a good constituency MP (what I believe from her elections) but lousy at anything more senior.
I cant imagine she has anything more than one term left to give anyway
Interesting article from the Torygraph. Some of labour is questioning the political integrity of a single MP so she should be expelled. Yet most of the country has questioned the political integrity of the last 3 Tory PMs and most of the front bench.
People like Diane abbott should have the whip removed for two reasons.
One attacking your own party with false claims. Claiming the shadow health secretary hates pharmacists and is anti vaccine or that starmer wants to take the NHS private is not only wrong but it’s libellous to some degree. She is on purpose damaging the party.
Secondly it’s pretty obvious ever since starmer took the whip of Corbyn she has become so hostile to the leadership that it’ consumes her day and night.
Diane abbott would still get her paycheck if there was a Tory victory tomorrow in an election so she doesn’t care about a labour victory.
But it’s the people who are going to suffer. Keir starmer has to understand when someone keeps goading you or your party and makes false claims against it then you to take action against them. The backlash from the left will be nothing compared to positives of having someone as crazy as Abbott outside of the plp for good.
Grow some balls starmer. Get rid of Abbott before she damages your brand for good
She is inept. She is a hindrance to the labour party, a real reason more people can’t get behind them
She’s an absolute liability and it would do Labour wonders to get rid of her.
By turning the Labour party into the Tory party we can get the Labour party elected. But what’s the point?
Given what Tom Harris says that he dislikes about Diane Abbot, he’s going to be absolutely shocked if anyone ever tells him about most of the Tory MPs!
She’s not the sharpest knife in the draw and she’s largely inept, but it’s good to have diversity in the HoCs.
Always though the obsession with her is kind of weird. She is consistently voted in by her constituency, she’s obviously doing something right locally. She has made a few gaffs but literally nothing worse than many other MPs have done, no where near as bad as e.g. “I was drinking 200 units of alcohol a week so I couldn’t stop myself going on racist tirades” MP or “I know there’s a global crisis going on with covid and hundreds of thousands of people need support due to circumstances entirely out of their control, but honestly if the government gave these people any support they’d just waste it all on crack and hookers” another Tory MP.
Somehow these slip under the radar time and time again but we’re supposed to be outraged because Abbott deleted a tweet.
She did say something daft about an area of policy which isn’t controversial in the slightest, but that’s hardly cause to expel her.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again:
**The Telegraph will not tell Labour how to win an election, because the Telegraph _do not want_ Labour to win elections.**
In fact, I’d go slightly further, and say that if the Telegraph is saying Labour should do something, they instead should endeavour to do the exact opposite.
No need, just deselect her for 2024 and wish her well for retirement
She’s a complete and utter moron. Surprised she hasn’t been kicked out considering her constant attacks.
She’s a Russian sympathising, socialist. She belongs chairing for whatever party them green and pleasant lads are supporting.
I agree, she’s a gaff machine, but she is smart in her brain, she just has trouble communicating.
I thought this was going to be about the new “Velma.”
What is with these transparent agenda posts from certain prolific users going unchecked by the mods?
What’s the point of subreddit rules if they aren’t enforced?