Diane abbott

As Diane Abbott continues to receive flak today for missing the Article 50 vote thanks to ‘a migraine’ (with #PrayForDiane doing the rounds among Labour MPs), the shadow home secretary is in need of some good press. Alas, with Abbott ducking questions from an ITV reporter last night, she doesn’t appear to be keen on mending press relations herself. Happily help may soon be at hand. Abbott is advertising for a communications officer. The lucky applicant must ‘be at ease in a high pressure environment and have a proven track record in press work and be able to work flexible hours’. Surely a contender for toughest job in Westminster?

Oh dear. With Diane Abbott currently off work with ‘a migraine’, the shadow home secretary is facing a growing work headache. After missing the Article 50 vote due to illness, questions have been raised over Abbott’s ability to speak at a Westminster Hall debate just three hours before falling so ill she could not vote. But surely her comrades have her back at this difficult time? Apparently not. Labour’s John Mann has taken to the airwaves to lambast Abbott for ‘bottling it’ over Brexit: ‘It’s quite extraordinary. We have some very, very ill people who turned up to Parliament to vote yesterday, who are so sick they’ve not been able

Is there something in the water at BBC broadcasting house? First Theresa May appears on Marr where she refuses to answer a question on Trident four times, then Diane Abbott comes up blank four times on Sunday Politics when asked about Labour’s Brexit position. The shadow home secretary struggled as Andrew Neil asked her a series of questions regarding her party’s position on exiting the European Union. Although Jeremy Corbyn previously suggested there would be a three-line whip on MPs to vote for Article 50, Abbott refused four times to say how the party will whip the vote. In an attempt to clarify her party’s Brexit stance, Abbott went on to

It’s a big day in the Commons with the Autumn Statement. Perhaps that’s why seat tensions ran so high at PMQs among Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet. After arriving in good time, Diane Abbott — dressed in a showstopping silver jacket — secured a prime seat next to the dear leader. Alas when Tom Watson arrived, Labour’s deputy leader thought that he should be the one who gets to sit next to Corbyn. The shadow home secretary was less than keen to give up her spot — leaving Watson awkwardly standing as a heated discussion ensued before everyone eventually agreed to budge up. ‘Taking a lady’s seat?! Labour really do have

On Sunday, Shami Chakrabarti was forced to use an appearance on Peston on Sunday to claim that she was not a hypocrite after the topic of grammar schools was raised. The issue? Although the shadow attorney general is vocal in her opposition to selective education in the state, she sent her own son to a selective fee-paying school. Shami Chakrabarti defends herself against claims of hypocrisy on the issue of selective education. #Peston pic.twitter.com/z2AIyIFAx0 — Peston (@itvpeston) October 9, 2016 While Chakrabarti insists that buying choice for herself while denying people without money the same option does not make her a hypocrite — explaining that as she is rich she is

The good people of Hungary went to the polls on Sunday and voted by more than 98 per cent against accepting even a few hundred migrants, as per the European Union’s insistence. That poll result must have been gravid with nostalgia for Magyars over the age of about 35. They will remember that sort of election result being de rigueur, rather than astonishing. Indeed, in 1985 the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party succeeded in capturing 98.8 per cent of the popular vote — and even this was a bit of a disappointment, because in 1980 it had pulled in 99.3 per cent. On both occasions the ruling party was aided, of

Jeremy Corbyn promised to wipe the slate clean following Labour’s fractious leadership race. Now that he’s officially clinched victory, it’s time for the party to try and do just that at Labour’s annual conference, which kicks off at 11am today. Here, The Spectator has put together a guide of the main events to look out for. This is what’s on today: 11am: Labour’s conference starts The NEC’s chair Paddy Lillis speaks shortly afterwards Fringe events: 5.30pm: The Big Debate: Labour and the economy in Brexit Britain Speakers include: Chuka Umunna; Ed Miliband; Lisa Nandy; Rachel Reeves 6pm: Stop Trident Fringe Meeting Speakers include: Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the CND; John McDonnell; Diane Abbott 6pm:

If we didn’t know it before, Diane Abbott has made it clear that this summer’s Labour leadership contest is going to be very nasty indeed. On the day Jeremy Corbyn will officially launch his campaign, his loyal ally has taken to the airwaves to stick the knife into his challenger Owen Smith. We’ve had a taste of just how the Corbynistas are planning to attack Smith before and it seems his links to Pfizer, where he used to work, will be the main thrust of their attempts to undermine him. Abbott made that much obvious this morning. She managed to concede that Owen was a ‘great bloke and so on’,

With Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet now somewhat depleted, brains at Labour are left with less choice when it comes to who to send onto the airwaves to protect the leader’s honour. As a result, readers ought to expect to hear a lot more from Diane Abbott — the newly appointed Shadow Health Secretary — in the coming days. Alas this may not be exactly what the beleaguered Labour leader needs as he continues to try and fend off the threat of a vote of no confidence. This morning Abbott appeared on the Today programme to make the case for Corbyn’s survival. Abbott said that if there was another leadership election, she was confident

Labour might have hoped that the announcement of an independent inquiry into the issue of anti-Semitism in the party would have drawn a line under the matter, and let the party get back to its election message ahead of polling day on Thursday. But comments by senior Labour figures are ensuring that this row continues. This morning, Diane Abbott went on the Marr show and said that ‘It is a smear to say that Labour has a problem with anti-Semitism’—which makes you wonder why Jeremy Corbyn has set up an inquiry into the issue. If this was not enough, Unite leader Len McCluskey declared on the radio that ‘The idea

Ken Livingstone has been the talk of the Commons today after he took to the airwaves to defend Naz Shah over her anti-Semitic posts. Since then he has been suspended after several Labour MPs urged their leader to take action. So, what’s Diane Abbott been doing to help the cause? While the MP for Hackney North stayed quiet on the row this morning, she has busied herself by deleting past supportive tweets about Red Ken from the internet. Abbott appears to not want members of the public to know that she was once on friendly terms with Livingstone. After Livingstone’s suspension was announced, the ‘Tweets MPs Delete’ Twitter account started displaying old tweets from Abbott which are

Tonight marks the first preview performance of the much-anticipated Corbyn the Musical: the Motorcycle Diaries. The ‘no-holds barred political satire’ musical — written by Rupert Myers and Bobby Friedman — imagines Jeremy Corbyn facing a nuclear crisis. It will also offers a take on what may have gone on when Corbyn and Diane Abbott are said to have gone on a motorcycle holiday in the 1970s. Alas Mr S hears that the Labour leader is less than amused with the idea; he is yet to respond to an invitation to attend. So, to give Corbyn — and those who failed to get tickets in time — a taste for the musical, here are the lyrics

Despite the In campaign’s best efforts to reach the youth vote with the help of Britain Stronger in Europe board member June Sarpong, some youngsters still find themselves leaning towards Brexit. Both Liz Truss and Diane Abbott learnt this the hard way on last night’s Question Time when a young audience member offered up her argument for leaving the EU. Responding to the Environment Secretary’s claim that the Prime Minister’s EU negotiation deal will reduce the ‘pull factors’ attracting migrants to Britain, Lexie Hill — a 16-year-old schoolgirl — explained why she disagreed: Audience member: I’m sorry but I can’t accept Liz’s arguments. What is increasing the living wage to £9-per-hour in 2020 going

This month saw the release of Rosa Prince’s biography of Jeremy Corbyn. While Corbyn refused to assist the former Daily Telegraph hack with the unauthorised tome, Prince spoke to a number of his close friends and family for Comrade Corbyn. While the book depicts Corbyn as a kind hard-working man, it also includes a number of previously unpublished stories including the claim that Corbyn ‘showed off‘ a naked Diane Abbott to his Labour friends back in his youth. However, Corbyn has not taken kindly to Prince’s work. In an interview with the Islington Tribune, Corbyn has hit out at the author, accusing her of a lack of courtesy: ‘I’m pleased she notes my

Jeremy Corbyn hasn’t changed his clothes since Christmas. He arrived at PMQs today in his dependable outfit of non-slip shoes, biscuit-coloured suit and minimum-wage tie. His white, flattened scalp and his mood of perplexed fatigue make him look like a dutiful pensioner inspecting a care-home for his beloved mum and wondering if he might check in as well, while he’s there. Today, however, mighty deeds summoned him to parliament. International monsters awaited his challenge. There were slavering dragons to tame. And famous victories to be won and celebrated. But he wasn’t up to it. As always. When Corbyn fails, it has to be said, he does so placidly and almost

Although it may have seemed as though the majority of MPs had enough on their plates over Christmas with floods, revenge reshuffles and the war on terror, it turns out that they also had time to edit a magazine. This week’s edition of the women’s weekly Stylist is ‘made by politicians’. The issue includes a recipe for cinnamon buns from environment secretary Liz Truss, as well as David Cameron giving a rundown of his ‘work life’. As for Labour, there is Jeremy Corbyn on his ideal bicycle — the £475 Raleigh Criterium, no less — and Gloria De Piero on the pros of buying Chardonnay from Aldi. Perhaps Mr S’s favourite section, however, is

After Diane Abbott falsely claimed that Labour MP Jonathan Reynolds was a former special adviser on last night’s Newsnight, Reynolds hit back by describing her as a ‘sell-out’. Now — just when it seemed Labour’s in-fighting couldn’t get much worse — Ken Livingstone has appeared on the Daily Politics to offer his take on the incident. Asked if Abbott was wrong to falsely claim that Reynolds used to be a spad, Livingstone wasn’t so sure. It turns out that the former Mayor of London doesn’t always think it is a bad thing to insult someone live on television with false information. Instead, the real problem here is of course Blairism: ‘Diane is responding to this wave of