Diane Abbott warns she might oppose Keir Starmer as Labour civil battle looms | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Diane Abbott has thrown down the gauntlet to Sir Keir Starmer in a recent nightmare for Labour after the Left-wing firebrand warned she might oppose the Government on key points.

The occasion whip was withdrawn from the Hackney MP within the final parliament for after she claimed Irish, Jewish and Traveller individuals weren’t topic to racism “all their lives”.

Her feedback have been branded as “deeply offensive” by Labour grandee Dame Margaret Hodge – however the whip was restored simply earlier than the General Election after months of uncertainty about her future.

Now, in a defiant Newsnight interview, the 70-year-old declared she was not afraid of the whip being withdrawn once more as she advised she was ready to oppose the occasion on some points.

“I’ve got no doubt there are going to be issues coming up where I will again find myself in opposition to my government,” she warned.

Asked by interviewer Victoria Derbyshire if she feared being suspended once more, Ms Abbott dismissed the suggestion by saying: “No no no – they took it away from me once, if they want to do it again it’s up to them. Not fussed about it.”

Ms Abbott has already proved to be a headache for the Prime Minister as he tries to persuade voters Labour has moved on from its hard-Left previous.

She was an in depth ally and buddy of Jeremy Corbyn, serving as his shadow dwelling secretary earlier than he misplaced the 2019 election and was later booted out of the occasion over antisemitism claims.

Sir Keir was branded as “ruthless” earlier this 12 months after he suspended seven MPs who rebelled in opposition to his first King’s Speech over the difficulty of kid tax credit. They have misplaced the whip for six months.

The transfer was believed to be aimed toward demonstrating to different Labour MPs like Ms Abbott that the whips will take powerful motion in opposition to rebels in future.

Labour’s determination to take away the winter gasoline allowance from most pensioners has additionally sparked controversy.

While no MPs rebelled, a number of did abstain on a parliamentary vote – although a few of these may need been given permission to be absent.

In the identical Newsnight interview, Ms Abbott slammed Sir Keir for not defending her extra and treating her as a “non-person” over racist feedback made by a Conservative donor.

Despite Tory donor Frank Hester apologising for saying she “should be shot”, Ms Abbott stated she wished there had been “more support” from the Labour Party.

A Labour spokesman stated: “There is no doubt that she has received the most abuse of any MP just because of her gender and the colour of her skin, and that is completely reprehensible and wrong.

“The party, including Keir Starmer, vocally condemned Frank Hester’s vile comments and reached out to Diane at the time to offer support.”