MPs talked about racism toward Diane Abbott today – except for Diane Abbott, who couldn’t get a word in for herself, despite wearing an eye-catching red jacket…
During Prime Minister’s Questions today, MPs discussed the appalling racism toward Diane Abbott, Britain’s first Black woman MP, by the Tories’ biggest donor.
Except for Ms Abbott herself, anyway. She stood repeatedly – at least 46 times – throughout the question session, wearing a bright red jacket amid a sea of mostly blue suits – and was ignored, every single time, by Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, forcing her to sit and listen as others discussed her without being able to speak for herself:
Keir Starmer tried to use the session to make political capital about Tory racism, but has overseen widespread racism against Black and Brown MPs among the Labour right and has let disgusting behaviour toward Abbott by right-wing staff and MPs – including Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting – go unpunished.
Perhaps Hoyle was worried Ms Abbott would point this out. The Speaker recently disgusted many MPs by breaking Commons protocols to allow Starmer to hijack a Commons vote on an SNP motion for a Gaza – and tried to excuse it by claiming, ridiculously, that he did it to keep MPs safe. Former party adviser James Schneider and others saw the link and commented:
Saul Staniforth, who compiled the video, has posted examples of some of the egregious establishment racism and mistreatment toward Diane Abbott, who has long been the most abused MP:
Skwawkbox is attempting to reach Ms Abbott for comment.
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Utterly disgraceful. Looks like Hoyle had evidently been ‘nobbled’ again …
Some questions someone should ask is, why has it taken so long for this Tory donor’s comment to come to light? Why is is just happening now? Also, who originated this recent story? Notwithstanding the grotesque nature of the racism of it, the security impact on Diane Abbott’s life of this story being published also seems callous to the point of vindictiveness to me: it should have been reported to the police, not reported on the media.
… or has someone been sitting on this, waiting for the exact time that suited them to bring it up?
Speaker Hoyle is an obedient handmaiden to Keir Rodney Starmer – and, as such, to every power-base that Starmer serves: the security state, Atlanticism, Zionist geo-politics, pro-longed austerity, and staunch opposition to the-end-of-FPTP, i.e. the collective interests of the British Establishment.
Hoyle is an incompetent whpo seems to rule in favour of his Labour Party. Democracy requires him to go as far away from Parliament as possible!
I certainly remember the time (April 2020) when the leaked report appeared were it emerged that Diane Abbott (among others) had been disgracefully
abused by Labour staffers.
So far as I know NONE of these people received apologies from anyone
in the Labour Party: it is a hypocritical – to say the least – of Starmer
to use her as ammunition to attack the Tories.
I found it very upsetting to see Diane sitting at the back desperately
trying to catch the Speakers eye. His excuse that there was not time
did not did not hold water given that Bercow extended PMQ if there
was an important question to discuss.
For me, Hoyle’s feeble excuse only makes his already appalling treatment of Diane Abbott even worse, and further indicates he had again been directed by someone else on how he must exercise his position as Speaker in advance of PMQs, in this case, not to allow Diane to speak.
What kind of ‘parliament’ do we have when the woman at the centre of the actual discussion is not allowed her own say on the appalling treatment she had experienced? This mockery of democracy is sickening.
According to The Sunday Times the Tories have £42m in their election pot (maximum allowed in a GE is £35m) and Labour has £23m so this is perhaps what is driving Right wing Lab who appear to have done bugger all to support Dianne Abbott?
And DA is probably the most abused MP in history, with this photo as they say every picture tells a story!
Dunno where me original post went, but I’m with Julie T on this one.
The very first column in the latest edition of private eye is a (pre-racist rant leak) tale of just how much this hester has had from the rags (and given back in donations) since 2021.
21/22 = £48m pre-tax profit on £76m turnover
22/23 = £40m pre-tax profit on £80m turnover.
£5m given by Hester, plus another £5m given by his company, Phoenix partnership, last year.
Methinks keef’d be only too amenable to conduct certain practices for a tenth of the amount in future.
And as abbott’s already under the bus, keef only needs to select reverse (and we know how just adept he is at that).
…If he hasn’t already. Of course there’ll always be someone taken in by keef’s supposed concern over the racist rant…
.
How many will buy Hoyle’s explanation?
https://labourlist.org/2024/03/diane-abbott-starmer-labour-whip-pmq-snub/
On social media Abbott and others have also hit out at the Speaker, for not calling on her to speak at PMQs over the row.
She said: “I don’t know whose interests the Speaker thinks he is serving, but it is not the interests of the Commons or democracy.”
A spokesperson for the Speaker’s Office said: “During Prime Minister’s Questions, the Speaker must select MPs from either side of the House on an alternating basis for fairness. This takes place within a limited time frame, with the Chair prioritising Members who are already listed on the Order Paper.
“This week – as is often the case – there was not enough time to call all Members who wanted to ask a question.”
Reply to Steve H
There are 95 letters of no confidence in Hoyle submitted following the ceasefire amendment fiasco. Hopefully this latest demonstration of, at best, incompetence and at worst pig ignorance and blatant partiality will increase that number substantially and he will be out on his ear.
I see that Andy McDonald has had the Labour whip restored today.
I’d have told them to cram it.
reply to Steve H
About time too – it should never have been removed. Only Likud and its British branch, Starmer’s Labour, would find a call for Palestinians and Israelis to live in peaceful harmony from the river to the sea “antisemitic.”
Smartboy – You may find this an interesting read.
The context and the intent is key. The founding charter of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party trolls: “Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.”
With the language being so loaded, so contentious, and uttered at a time of a huge rise in antisemitic attacks, it was felt by Labour that McDonald had erred into the offensive. The former shadow chancellor John McDonnell noted that his friend had not used the full slogan, however.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/31/from-the-river-to-the-sea-where-does-the-slogan-come-from-and-what-does-it-mean-israel-palestine
yes context and intent are key to almost everything. Propagandists and manipulators know this fact better than most…
https://www.DUMPtheguardian.com/world/2023/oct/31/from-the-river-to-the-sea-where-does-the-slogan-come-from-and-what-does-it-mean-israel-palestine