Keir Starmer admits Labour has more to do to root out anti-Semitism

Keir Starmer admits Labour has more work to do rooting out anti-Semitism as he is grilled by Holly and Phil about Diane Abbott backlash

Keir Starmer today admitted Labour still has work to do combating anti-Semitism in the wake of the Diane Abbott row.

Sir Keir defended his swift response in suspending the whip from Ms Abbott as he was grilled by Holly and Phil on ITV’s This Morning.

He repeated his view that the former shadow home secretary’s claim that Jewish people did not suffer racism – something she has since apologised for – was anti-Semitic. ‘That’s why we took the action we did,’ Sir Keir said, stressing his determination to crack down on the issue within Labour.

But Sir Keir warned that the problem will never go away entirely, suggesting it will always be a ‘concern’.

Ms Abbott had the party whip withdrawn yesterday despite issuing a grovelling apology for her comments.

Keir Starmer defended his swift response in suspending the whip from Diane Abbott as he was grilled by Holly and Phil on ITV’s This Morning

Sir Keir repeated his view that the former shadow home secretary’s claim that Jewish people did not suffer racism – something she has since apologised for – was anti-Semitic

The veteran MP made the controversial comments in a letter to The Observer newspaper as she responded to a recent comment article

In a letter to the Observer, she had argued that while white people could suffer from ‘prejudice’ for ‘points of difference’ such as red hair they were not ‘all their lives subject to racism’.

Ms Abbott wrote: ‘It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice.

‘But they are not all their lives subject to racism. In pre-civil rights America, Irish people, Jewish people and Travellers were not required to sit at the back of the bus. In apartheid South Africa, these groups were allowed to vote. And at the height of slavery, there were no white-seeming people manacled on the slave ships.’

She later apologised and sought to ‘disassociate’ herself from her words. She said: ‘The errors arose in an initial draft being sent. 

‘But there is no excuse and I wish to apologise for any anguish caused.’

If the sanction is not lifted Ms Abbott will be barred from standing as Labour’s candidate in Hackney North and Stoke Newington, an area she has represented since 1987, at the next election.

Her close ally Jeremy Corbyn has already been told he will not be the candidate in Islington North after having the whip removed. 

Former Labour MP Lord Mann has urged Ms Abbott to announce she is standing down, although she has so far shown no sign of doing so.

But left-wing campaign group Momentum has argued the whip should be restored after she apologised.

Ms Abbott issued a public apology to ‘wholly and unreservedly withdraw my remarks and disassociate myself from them’

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