Diane Abbott | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2017 | |
| Mother of the House | |
| Assumed office 5 July 2024 | |
| Speaker | Lindsay Hoyle |
| Preceded by | Harriet Harman (de-facto) |
| Shadow Home Secretary | |
| In office 6 October 2016 – 4 April 2020[a] | |
| Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | Andy Burnham |
| Succeeded by | Nick Thomas-Symonds |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Health | |
| In office 27 June 2016 – 6 October 2016 | |
| Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | Heidi Alexander |
| Succeeded by | Jonathan Ashworth |
| Shadow Secretary of State for International Development | |
| In office 13 September 2015 – 27 June 2016 | |
| Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | Mary Creagh |
| Succeeded by | Kate Osamor |
| Shadow Minister for Public Health | |
| In office 9 October 2010 – 8 October 2013 | |
| Leader | Ed Miliband |
| Preceded by | Anne Milton |
| Succeeded by | Luciana Berger |
| Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington | |
| Assumed office 11 June 1987 | |
| Preceded by | Ernie Roberts |
| Majority | 15,090 (36.9%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Diane Julie Abbott 27 September 1953 Paddington, London, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse |
David Ayensu-Thompson
(m. 1991; div. 1993) |
| Children | 1 |
| Education | Newnham College, Cambridge (BA) |
| Website | dianeabbott |
Diane Julie Abbott (born 27 September 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987. She served in the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn as Shadow Home Secretary from 2016 to 2020 and is an advisor to the Privy Council. She was the first black woman elected to parliament and is the longest-serving black MP.
Born in Paddington to a British-Jamaican family, Abbott attended Harrow County School for Girls before reading History at Newnham College, Cambridge. After working for the Civil Service, she worked as a reporter for Thames Television and TV-am before becoming a press officer for the Greater London Council. Joining the Labour Party, she was elected to Westminster City Council in 1982 and then as an MP in 1987, being re-elected in every general election since.
She was a member of the Labour Party Black Sections. Critical of Tony Blair's New Labour project that moved the party towards the centre during the mid- to late 1990s, Abbott voted against several Blair policies, including the Iraq War and the Identity Cards Act 2006. She stood for election as Leader of the Labour Party on a left-wing platform in the 2010 leadership election, finishing in last place in a contest that was won by Ed Miliband, who appointed her Shadow Minister for Health on the Official Opposition frontbench.
A supporter of Jeremy Corbyn's bid to become Labour leader in 2015, Abbott became Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, then Shadow Secretary of State for Health, and eventually Shadow Home Secretary. A Corbyn ally, she supported his leftward push of the Labour Party. She unsuccessfully attempted to be chosen as the Labour candidate for the 2016 London mayoral election, and backed the unsuccessful Britain Stronger in Europe campaign to retain UK membership of the European Union. Following the 2019 general election, Abbott was removed from the Shadow Cabinet by Keir Starmer.
In April 2023, Abbott wrote a letter to The Observer in which she said that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experienced prejudice but not racism and this was not the same as the racism experienced by Black people. As a result, the Labour Party withdrew the whip. The Labour Party National Executive Committee concluded its inquiry into her comments in December 2023 and issued her with a "formal warning". The Labour Party restored the whip on 28 May 2024. Abbott said she had been barred from standing as a Labour Party candidate at the 2024 general election, but Starmer later said she would be "free" to stand as a Labour candidate.[2]
At the general election held on 4 July 2024, Abbott retained her seat as Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and became Mother of the House as the longest continuously serving female MP.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ "Diane Abbott". Desert Island Discs. 18 May 2008. BBC Radio 4. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- ^ Brown, Faye (31 May 2024). "Diane Abbott 'free' to stand for Labour at general election, Sir Keir Starmer says". Sky News.