Ex-Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott has taken aim at Sir Keir Starmer following her suspension from the Labour Party last night.
Abbott, who was suspended pending an investigation after doubling-down on her 2023 comment about Jewish experiences of racism, accused the Prime Minister and his allies of wanting her out of the Labour Party.
The Mother of the House had previously been barred from standing as the Labour candidate for Hackney North & Stoke Newington just weeks before the 2024 General Election.
She was restored as the candidate following a backlash from supporters and eventually retained her seat with a reduced majority of just over 15,000.
Taking aim at Starmer last night, Abbott told the BBC: "It is obvious this Labour leadership wants me out.
"My comments in the interview with James Naughtie were factually correct, as any fair-minded person would accept."
Labour confirmed Abbott had been suspended for a second time shortly after 6pm last night.
"Diane Abbott has been administratively suspended from the Labour Party, pending an investigation," a Labour spokesman said.
"We cannot comment further while this investigation is ongoing.”
However, GB News understands that the administrative suspension, pending investigation, has the automatic effect of suspending the Labour whip in the House of Commons.
Abbott landed herself in hot-water yesterday after appearing to stand by her April 2023 letter to The Observer which argued that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people “undoubtedly experience prejudice” that is “similar to racism”.
Despite apologising for “any anguish caused” and admitting that the letter had been a draft published in error, Abbott said that she did not regret the controversial claims.
She told the BBC: “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 [their background].
"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.”
Senior Labour sources had earlier suggested Abbott would lose the whip after “doubling-down on something she previously had the whip withdrawn for”.
"She shouldn’t be immune because she’s the Mother of the House," the Labour insider told The Times.
Abbott, who became Britain's first black female MP when she was elected in 1987, was already facing calls for a second suspension after mistakenly branding the Israel Defence Forces as the "Jewish Defence Force".
A Labour Party spokesman responded at the time by reiterating that “all complaints are taken seriously" and suggested that the comments would be assessed in line with established rules and procedures.
However, Abbott's latest suspension comes just hours after the Prime Minister purged four left-wing Labour rebels.
Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff were the first three Labour MPs suspended following their role in the welfare revolt earlier this month.
York Outer MP Rachael Maskell, who was seen by No10 as the ringleader spearheading the revolt, was named as the fourth suspended Labour MP just a few hours later.
Defending his decision to suspend the gaggle of welfare rebels, the Prime Minister said: "I'm determined that we will change this country for the better for millions of working people.
"I'm not going to be deflected from that and therefore we have to deal with people who repeatedly break the whip, because everyone was elected as a Labour MP on the manifesto of change and everybody needs to deliver as a Labour Government."