Starmer facing 'let Abbott stand' revolt

SIR Keir Starmer is facing a growing revolt over Labour's disastrous handling of MP Diane Abbott.

- Michael Knowles

The Opposition leader was forced to deny the Left-winger, 70, had been barred from standing for the party despite having the whip restored following a probe.

She was suspended last year for saying Jewish, Irish and Traveller people do not face racism "all their lives".

Furious Labour politicians, unions and Left-wing campaign group Momentum heaped pressure on Sir Keir, declaring "she must be allowed to stand".

And the Labour leader came under fire over "lies" about the investigation into the Hackney North MP. The Tories demanded to know why Sir Keir said days ago the probe was ongoing when it was concluded in December.

And Conservative MPs said he must answer whether he or his team knew Ms Abbott had been given a "formal warning before they were sent onto the media with deliberately false lines, or have they also been lied to?".

Ms Abbott, who in 1987 became the first black woman elected to Parliament, said she was "very dismayed" at at suggestions she would be barred from standing despite having the whip restored.