LONDON: Diane Abbott, the first black woman to become a British MP, has been readmitted into the ranks of Britain’s governing Labour party following an internal investigation, the party announced on Thursday.
The left-wing figurehead, currently parliament’s longest-serving female MP, was suspended by Labour last year after repeating contentious comments about racism for which she had apologised.
She was readmitted into both the political party and its parliamentary ranks alongside another lawmaker, Joani Reid, who voluntary suspended herself earlier this year.
That followed her husband arrest on suspicion of spying for China.
“Diane Abbott and Joani Reid have been readmitted to the Labour Party and have had the Labour whip restored in the House of Commons,” a party spokesperson said.
Their readmissions come less than two weeks after Andy Burnham – who hails from Labour’s so-called “soft left” wing – replaced Keir Starmer as leader and prime minister.
However, it is understood the party’s leadership played no role in the decisions.
The spokesperson noted they followed “a process conducted under Labour Party rules and approved by the independent review board”.
“Diane Abbott has also apologised following the independent process coming to an end,” the statement added, while it is believed she received a formal warning.
The 72-year-old, who ran to be Labour leader in 2010, has long been a highly respected figure within the party’s ranks.
But she caused an outcry in 2023, when in a letter to the weekly Observer newspaper she wrote that Irish, Jewish people and travellers “undoubtedly experience prejudice” but that it is merely “similar to racism”.
She added: “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.”
Abbott, a close ally of left-wing former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, remained suspended from the party for more than a year, though she withdrew the remarks and apologised for “any anguish caused”.
She was allowed to run for Labour in the July 2024 elections in her London constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, and was re-elected.
But a year later she made a similar argument in a July 2025 BBC interview, telling the broadcaster it was “silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism”.
In a statement on X on Thursday confirming her Labour readmittance, Abbott said she was “a lifelong anti-racist and remain deeply committed to opposing racism in all its forms”.
