No Reason Why Abbott Can't Stand For Labour - Rayner

Deputy leader defies Starmer as row knocks his campaign

- DAVID MADDOX & ARCHIE MITCHELL

Angela Rayner has given Diane Abbott her full backing to run for parliament in the general election in a dramatic intervention. It comes as Sir Keir Starmer was forced to deny that he is trying to "purge" the left of the party as the row over Ms Abbott and candidate selections threaten to derail his campaign.

The row appears to have left Labour on the brink of open civil war and handed Rishi Sunak and the Tories an unexpected lifeline as they struggle to close the gap of around 20 points in the polls. However, last night it appeared that the chaos had not hurt Labour so far with the Techne UK tracker poll showing them unchanged on 45 per cent.

In a blunt response to the last 72 hours of chaos around whether Ms Abbott can stand in Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Ms Rayner appeared to take aim at Sir Keir and his inner circle.

Speaking to ITV, Labour's deputy leader said: "I don't see any reason why Diane Abbott can't stand as a Labour MP going forward. I am saying that as the deputy leader of the Labour Party."

She described Ms Abbott as a trailblazer adding that she is "not happy" about negative briefings to the papers about her from senior Labour sources. She said: "I don't think that is how we should conduct ourselves."

Ms Rayner then doubled down with comments to Sky News, saying: "[Diane Abbott]'s been an inspiration to many people who see that actually she has been a trailblazer. Now people from her background and people who look like her have a place in our politics. And she's been able to demonstrate that. You can see the difference on our benches."