Labor has confirmed that Diane Abbott is standing as the party’s candidate in Hackney North and Stoke Newington.
The National Labor Executive Committee (NEC), responsible for the final approval of electoral candidates, gave the green light for the veteran deputy to occupy the position she has held for 37 years.
It published the list of approved Labor candidates for the election at lunchtime on Tuesday, ahead of the deadline for all nominations on Friday afternoon.
A Labor source told Sky News that three members of the NEC panel raised the treatment of Mrs. when discussing candidates.
The decision comes after a week of confusion over whether she would be allowed to remain after the Labor whip was returned to her following a year-long suspension, while she was investigated for writing a letter saying Jews, Irish and Travelers do not face racism.
She apologized shortly after the letter was published.
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After days of confusion, including from Abbott, Sir Keir said last week it was not up to him to decide whether she could stand as it was up to the NEC panel.
Abbott said she understood she had been barred from running.
But eventually Sir Keir said she would be allowed to stand for the Labor Party.
Abbott, the first black female MP in the UK, accused Sir Keir to carry out a ‘slaughter of leftists’ after Faiza Shaheen was unexpectedly barred from running for the Labor Party last week.
The former Labor leader and close friend of Abbott’s Jeremy Corbyn, who was expelled from the party and stands as an independent in neighboring Islington North, told Sky News Sir Keir is “clearly intervening” in a “purge” of left-wing candidates.
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On Sunday, Abbott said she “intends to run and win” following speculation she might choose to resign.
She then wrote on social media: “More lies from Starmer”, with a link to an article by Starmer biographer Tom Baldwin titled: “Starmer on Abbott: ‘I actually have more respect for Diane than she probably realizes’ .”
Reacting to this accusation ahead of the NEC’s final decision on Tuesday, Sir Keir said: “Look, we’ve already dealt with the Diane Abbott issue. I made the position absolutely clear last week when I said she was free to run for office. election.
“She is one of the candidates we are now presenting to the electorate.”
Asked if he had spoken to her, he said: “I spoke to Diane two or three months ago. My team has obviously been talking to her, but the decision has already been made.”
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Part of the “slaughter” that Abbott and Corbyn spoke about included the suspension last week of Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who has been MP for Brighton Kemptown since 2017.
On Monday, seven Slough Labor councilors resigned from the Labor Party after claiming they had been “betrayed” by the party leadership.
They said they had “deep disillusionment and anger” about Labour’s treatment of Abbott and Shaheen, its stance on the war in Gaza and Slough’s Labor candidate Tan Dhesi.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
