Diane Abbott has been suspended by the Labour Party after doubling down on comments she made about ‘visible racism’, and the kinds of racism people face in the UK.

The Hackney North MP had written in the Observer in 2023 that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people ‘undoubtedly experience prejudice’ that is ‘similar to racism’, but then made this distinction which ruffled a few feathers:

“It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism.

“In pre-civil rights America, Irish people, Jewish people and Travellers were not required to sit at the back of the bus. In apartheid South Africa, these groups were allowed to vote. And at the height of slavery, there were no white-seeming people manacled on the slave ships.”

Abbott was suspended by Labour after making those comments at the time, but was readmitted into the party before the last elections. She was then asked by the BBC if she regretted making those comments in the Observer, and decided to double down:

“No, not at all.

“Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don’t know.

“You don’t know unless you stop to speak to them or you’re in a meeting with them.

“But if you see a black person walking down the street, you see straight away that they’re black. They are different types of racism.

“I just think that it’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism. I don’t know why people would say that.”

Which doesn’t actually seem like too crazy a thing to say? Except it’s obviously not very smart to double down on comments you made that already got you suspended just a couple years back.

The reason she’s been suspended is that it’s a continuation of her trying to play down prejudices that certain groups suffer, which Labour have repeatedly asked her to stop doing. The quote might be OK in isolation, but in context, she’s defying Keir Starmer by bringing up topics that she’s specifically been told to stay away from.

It’s an especially bad look given that Dianne Abbott has a history of saying silly things to inflame racial divides, even if this one actually seems like a fair enough perspective on its own. Come on Diane! Use your brain.

Labour said it would not be commenting ‘while this investigation is ongoing’, though Deputy leader Angela Rayner did say she was ‘disappointed’ that Abbott defended the comments that led to her year-long suspension.