Diane Abbott’s most memorable shadow cabinet moments

This week Keir Starmer’s formed his new Shadow Cabinet replacing several Corbynista stalwarts with his own favoured MPs on the frontbenches. As a result the Labour party has lost some of the ‘titans’ and ‘heavyweights’ of the Corbyn-era, who are no longer shadowing the great offices of state.

To commemorate their departure, Mr Steerpike is compiling the best moments of their careers in opposition. On Monday, Mr S highlighted Richard Burgon’s greatest hits, after he was booted out as Shadow Justice Minister. Today we look at Diane Abbott, who announced in advance of Starmer’s election that she would be stepping down from the role. Her successor is Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds.

Here are Abbott’s most memorable moments as Shadow Home Sec:

1. Police costs

Diane Abbott’s interview on LBC, where she couldn’t name the cost of Labour’s plan to introduce 10,000 extra police officers, became a defining moment of the 2017 general election campaign. Abbott initially suggested the policy would cost £300,000 (which would have worked out at £30 an officer) before hastily suggesting it would cost £80m instead, when challenged by Nick Ferrari.