Diane Abbott slams Speaker for not calling her to talk on race row despite standing up over 40 times
Diane Abbott has criticised the Speaker after he failed to call her during today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, which was dominated by the race row surrounding her.
Sky News has seen that Ms Abbott stood up 46 times in 35 minutes in the Commons to try and have her say in the debate, without success.
The row was sparked by comments from Tory donor Frank Hester, who allegedly said the MP made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.
In a post on X, former Labour MP Ms Abbott wrote: “I don’t know whose interests the Speaker thinks he is serving. But it is not the interests of the Commons or democracy.”
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Ms Abbott later revealed what she would have said had she been called to speak in the session.
She told Sky News: “Has the PM considered that if he was a little black child watching how it took his party 24 hours to say that insisting a black woman politician should be shot was racist, that that might make that young child think twice before entering politics altogether?”
She has previously said Mr Hester’s alleged comments have put her in a “frightening” position.
A number of MPs raised the Commons matter, with Labour MP Stella Creasy writing on X at the time: “Right now Diane Abbott is standing to ask a question in prime minister’s questions. As her safety is debated by others. Something very wrong if her voice isn’t heard today…”
Rosie Duffield, the Labour MP for Canterbury, said it was “extremely uncomfortable to witness” and added: “While others were speaking about her, Diane Abbott was not selected to speak herself, why?”
Former shadow women and equalities secretary Dawn Butler told Sky News that Labour’s black female MPs took Ms Abbott to lunch today after she was denied the chance to ask a question during PMQs.
Speaking to Niall Paterson for the Sky News Daily Podcast, Ms Butler said she felt Rishi Sunak had “let down” Ms Abbott in his response.
“It affects her,” she said. “We are not invincible. We get these labels of ‘strong black woman’, or ‘angry black woman’ – we are not invincible. It does affect us.”
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A spokesperson for Sir Lindsay said: “During Prime Minister’s Questions, the Speaker must select MPs from either side of the House on an alternating basis for fairness.
“This takes place within a limited time frame, with the chair prioritising members who are already listed on the order paper. This week – as is often the case – there was not enough time to call all members who wanted to ask a question.”
The row over Mr Hester dominated today’s session, with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer attacking the prime minister for being “bankrolled” by the businessman, who is the chief executive of the healthcare software firm The Phoenix Partnership.
Mr Hester has donated £10m to the Conservatives since the 2019 election either through individual means or via his firm.
Mr Sunak has come under increasing pressure to return the funds which Mr Hester and his healthcare software firm had gifted the Tories – something the prime minister appeared to rule out.
After his remarks were first reported in the Guardian, the businessman said he was “deeply sorry”, but insisted they had “nothing to do with [Ms Abbott’s] gender nor colour of skin”.
During the terse session, Mr Sunak echoed his statement from Tuesday night, calling the businessman’s alleged remarks “racist” and saying there was “no place for racism in Britain”.
But he said Mr Hester had “apologised genuinely for his comments and that remorse should be accepted” and accused Sir Keir of supporting ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who he said “let antisemitism run rife” during his tenure.
Sir Keir replied: “The difference is he is scared of his party. I have changed my party.”
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn also accused Mr Sunak of “putting money before morals”, adding: “This is complete rubbish. [Mr Hester] apologised for being rude.
“He wasn’t rude. He was racist, he was odious and he was downright bloody dangerous.”
The Scottish Conservatives broke ranks shortly after PMQs to call on the government to “carefully review the donations” in light of Mr Hester’s alleged comments, which they said were “racist and wrong”.
Both Sir Keir and Mr Flynn were seen approaching Ms Abbott, who now sits as an independent after she had the Labour whip removed over comments she made last year, and spoke to her in the Commons after PMQs concluded.
Ms Abbott later retweeted a claim that in the conversation with the Labour leader, she had asked for the whip to be restored, having been suspended last year after suggesting Jewish, Irish and Traveller people did not face racism – something she later apologised for.