Kinnock thought Black MPs were 'an embarrassment', claims Abbott in memoir

Diane Abbott has claimed former Labour leader Neil Kinnock viewed his Black MPs as "an embarrassment".

- MILLIE COOKE

Ms Abbott, who is the longest-serving black member of parliament, was elected alongside three other Black Labour MPs in 1987.

In her book, A Woman Like Me, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington is deeply critical of Lord Kinnock’s leadership, accusing him of “dismissing the concerns of Black people”.

Recalling her experience after being elected, Ms Abbott said she and her fellow Black Labour MPs felt they were “not allowed to bask in the glory of our achievement” as both the party leadership and officials “did not see it as a triumph and noticeably did not celebrate it as such”.

She added: “Kinnock thought of his Black MPs as an embarrassment. We were the embodiment of the ‘loony left’, and this was precisely the image he was trying to get away from.”

Lord Kinnock strongly denied the allegations and told The Independent he was “delighted, certainly not ‘embarrassed’” at the election of four Black Labour MPs to parliament. He pointed to his Labour conference speech of 1987, which saw him celebrate their election and what he saw as the beginnings of a “multi racial parliament to reflect our multi-racial society”.