Editing Diane Abbott (section)

==Political controversies==

===Education of Abbott's son===
Abbott's decision in 2003 to send her son to the private [[City of London School]] after criticising colleagues for sending their children to selective schools, which she herself described as "indefensible" and "intellectually incoherent", caused controversy and criticism.<ref>{{cite news |last=Barrow |first=Becky |date=3 November 2003 |title=Abbott 'told ex-husband to be quiet over school' |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1445761/Abbott-told-ex-husband-to-be-quiet-over-school.html |url-status=live |access-date=27 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602041119/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1445761/Abbott-told-ex-husband-to-be-quiet-over-school.html |archive-date=2 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=31 October 2003 |title=Abbott speaks out on school row |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3229453.stm |url-status=live |access-date=1 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070115173927/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3229453.stm |archive-date=15 January 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Rosen |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Rosen |date=December 2003 |title=Education: Dear Diane Abbott... |url=http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=8687 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070225080247/http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=8687 |archive-date=25 February 2007 |access-date=1 November 2006 |website=[[Socialist Review]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Abbott |first=Diane |date=March 2004 |title=Education: Dear Michael Rosen... |url=http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=8810 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060626043403/http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=8810 |archive-date=26 June 2006 |access-date=1 November 2006 |website=Socialist Review}}</ref>

According to the ''[[Daily Mirror]]'', she said: 
{{quote|I'd done a lot of work on how black boys underachieve in secondary schools so I knew what a serious problem it was. I knew what could happen to my son if he was sent to the wrong school and got in with the wrong crowd. I realised they were subjected to peer pressure and when that happens it's very hard for a mother to save her son. Once a black boy is lost to the world of gangs it's very hard to get them back and I was genuinely very fearful of what could happen.<ref>{{cite news |last=Reade |first=Brian |date=21 June 2010 |title=Diane Abbott: I sent my son to private school so he wouldn't end up in a gang |work=Daily Mirror |location=London |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/diane-abbott-i-sent-my-son-to-private-230293 |url-status=live |access-date=19 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181219134527/https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/diane-abbott-i-sent-my-son-to-private-230293 |archive-date=19 December 2018}}</ref>}}

Her son contacted a radio phone-in to say that his mother was following his own wishes: "She's not a hypocrite, she just put what I wanted first instead of what people thought," he told LBC. He added that he had wanted to attend a private school rather than attend a local state school in Abbott's Hackney constituency.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tahir |first1=Tariq |last2=Ben Leapman |date=31 October 2003 |title=Abbot admits decision 'indefensible' |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/abbot-admits-decision-indefensible-6959753.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930064311/http://www.standard.co.uk/news/abbot-admits-decision-indefensible-6959753.html |archive-date=30 September 2015 |access-date=20 July 2016 |website=Evening Standard}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=28 October 2003 |title=Abbott's son defends going private |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/3222089.stm}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Lightfoot |first=Liz |date=29 October 2003 |title=Public school son of Labour MP denies 'hypocrisy' |work=The Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1445343/Public-school-son-of-Labour-MP-denies-hypocrisy.html |url-status=live |access-date=5 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218105820/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1445343/Public-school-son-of-Labour-MP-denies-hypocrisy.html |archive-date=18 December 2013}}</ref>

===Comments on race===
In 1996, Abbott was criticised after she said that "blonde, blue-eyed Finnish girls" were unsuitable as nurses at her local hospital because they had "never met a black person before."<ref>{{cite news |last=Ward |first=Lucy |date=16 March 1999 |title=The Guardian Profile: Diane Abbott |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/mar/16/lucyward.guardianprofiles |url-status=live |access-date=11 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201104835/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/mar/16/lucyward.guardianprofiles |archive-date=1 February 2017}}</ref> In response, [[Marc Wadsworth]], founder of the [[Anti-Racist Alliance]], whose mother is Finnish, pointed out that the then-current [[Miss Finland]], [[Lola Odusoga]], was black, of [[Nigerian]] and [[Finns|Finnish]] descent. "She's a black Finn like me", he said. Abbott's position was supported by fellow black Labour MP [[Bernie Grant]]: "Bringing someone here from Finland who has never seen a black person before and expecting them to have some empathy with black people is nonsense. [[Scandinavia#Scandinavian as an ethnic term and as a demonym|Scandinavian people]] don't know black people—they probably don't know how to take their temperature."<ref>{{cite news |last=Rentoul |first=John |date=29 November 1996 |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/diane-abbott-is-sorry-for-the-record-miss-finland-is-also-black-1354725.html |title=Diane Abbott is sorry (For the record Miss Finland is also black) |work=Independent |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807210338/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/diane-abbott-is-sorry-for-the-record-miss-finland-is-also-black-1354725.html|archive-date=7 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=((0111 Kivinen))<!--sic: this is a pseudonym--> |date=7 December 1996 |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/7th-december-1996/18/diane-abbott-finland-responds |title=Diane Abbott: Finland Responds |work=The Spectator |page=18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223113624/http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/7th-december-1996/18/diane-abbott-finland-responds |archive-date=23 December 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 4 January 2012, Abbott [[tweeted]]: "White people love playing '[[divide and rule]]'. We should not play their game." This led to widespread criticism, including accusations of racism.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ridge |first=Sophy |date=5 January 2012 |title=MP Apologises After Tweet Sparks Race Row |url=http://news.sky.com/story/915384/mp-apologises-after-tweet-sparks-race-row |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208134410/http://news.sky.com/story/915384/mp-apologises-after-tweet-sparks-race-row |archive-date=8 December 2015 |access-date=29 November 2015 |work=Sky News}}</ref> Abbott later apologised for "any offence caused", stating that she had not intended to "make generalisations about white people"; she said in an interview with [[Andrew Neil]] that her tweet was referring to the history of the [[British Empire]].<ref>{{cite news |date=20 March 2015 |title=Diane Abbott on 'divide and rule' 2012 tweet comment |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-31979342/diane-abbott-on-divide-and-rule-2012-tweet-comment |url-status=live |access-date=17 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119121931/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-31979342/diane-abbott-on-divide-and-rule-2012-tweet-comment |archive-date=19 January 2019}}</ref><ref name="BBCApology">{{cite news |date=5 January 2012 |title=MP Diane Abbott 'sorry' over Twitter race comments |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16423278 |url-status=live |access-date=5 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105173349/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16423278 |archive-date=5 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Ross |first1=Tim |last2=Matthew Holehouse |date=5 January 2012 |title=Diane Abbott forced to apologise in racism row after claiming 'White people love playing divide and rule' |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/8996425/Diane-Abbott-forced-to-apologise-in-racism-row-after-claiming-White-people-love-playing-divide-and-rule.html |url-status=live |access-date=2 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171005202705/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/8996425/Diane-Abbott-forced-to-apologise-in-racism-row-after-claiming-White-people-love-playing-divide-and-rule.html |archive-date=5 October 2017}}</ref> The Deputy Prime Minister [[Nick Clegg]] called her comments a "stupid and crass generalisation". [[Nadhim Zahawi]], Conservative MP, said: "This is racism. If this was a white member of Parliament saying that all black people want to do bad things to us he would have resigned within the hour or been sacked."<ref name="BBCApology" /> Members of the public lodged complaints, but the [[Metropolitan Police]] stated that no investigation would be launched, and no charges would be brought against her, saying she "did not commit a criminal offence."<ref>{{cite news |last=Bowater |first=Donna |date=9 January 2012 |title=Diane Abbott will not face police action over 'racist' tweet |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9001757/Diane-Abbott-will-not-face-police-action-over-racist-tweet.html |url-status=live |access-date=2 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171005203530/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9001757/Diane-Abbott-will-not-face-police-action-over-racist-tweet.html |archive-date=5 October 2017}}</ref>

In April 2023, as a result of a letter Abbott wrote to ''[[The Observer]]'' in which she said racism experienced by Jewish, Irish, and Traveller people was not the same as that experienced by black people, the Labour Party [[Whip (politics)|withdrew the whip]]. Abbott had written in the letter that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people "undoubtedly experience prejudice", which she called "similar to racism", and added "it is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as [[redhead]]s, can experience this prejudice . . . but they are not all their lives subject to racism." The [[Board of Deputies of British Jews]] described the comments as "disgraceful" and Labour's [[Mayor of London]], [[Sadiq Khan]], called the comments "simply unacceptable", adding: "[[Keir Starmer]] has done the right thing by suspending Diane Abbott."<ref>{{cite news |title=Diane Abbott suspended as Labour MP after racism letter |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65365978 |work=BBC News |date=23 April 2023 |access-date=7 March 2024 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

On 15 March 2024, Abbott strongly denied unattributed briefings in ''[[The Independent]]'' newspaper that stated the Labour whip would have been restored if she had agreed to attend an antisemitism course. She called the journalism "shoddy" and the information "false".<ref>{{cite web |title=Diane Abbott denies she 'refused to take antisemitism course to rejoin Labour' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/diane-abbott-rishi-sunak-angela-rayner-irish-jewish-b2513578.html |website=Independent|first=Sophie|last=Wingate |date=15 March 2024 |access-date=16 March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Gibbons |first=Amy |date=15 March 2024 |title=Diane Abbott claims Labour won't return whip because of her attacks on Keir Starmer |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/15/diane-abbott-labour-return-whip-attacks-keir-starmer/ |access-date=16 March 2024 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>

===IRA===
In May 2017, ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' reported that Abbott backed the [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]] in a 1984 interview with ''Labour and Ireland'', a pro-republican journal.<ref name="Gilligan">{{cite news |last=Gilligan |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Gilligan |date=21 May 2017 |title=Abbott declared support for IRA defeat of Britain |work=[[The Sunday Times]] |url=https://www.thetimes.com/edition/election-2017/abbott-declared-support-for-ira-defeat-of-britain-rp79dvvmk |url-status=live |access-date=21 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121125430/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35371204 |archive-date=21 January 2016}} {{subscription required}}</ref><ref>''Labour and Ireland'', Vol 2, issue 5 (1984) {{page needed|date=May 2017}}</ref> In the 1984 interview, Abbott criticised the Unionist population of Northern Ireland as an "enclave of white supremacist ideology comparable to white settlers in Zimbabwe", and called for their views to be ignored on the question of [[United Ireland|Unification]], adding: "Ireland is our struggle—every defeat of the British state is a victory for all of us. A defeat in Northern Ireland would be a defeat indeed."<ref name="Gilligan" /><ref name="Gilliganblog">{{cite web |last=Gilligan |first=Andrew |date=21 May 2017 |title=Diane Abbott backed victory for the IRA |url=https://andrewgilliganblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/21/diane-abbott-backed-victory-for-the-ira-see-the-document/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817203944/https://andrewgilliganblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/21/diane-abbott-backed-victory-for-the-ira-see-the-document/ |archive-date=17 August 2017 |access-date=21 May 2017 |publisher=andrewgilliganblog}}</ref>

In May 2017, while Shadow Home Secretary, she was asked by [[Andrew Marr]] whether she regretted her comments on the IRA. Abbott replied that "It was 34 years ago. I've moved on."<ref>{{cite news |last=Osborne |first=Samuel |date=28 May 2017 |title=Diane Abbott refuses to say she 'regrets' calling for IRA to defeat British state |work=Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/diane-abbott-ira-regret-jeremy-corbyn-defeat-british-state-a7759926.html |url-status=live |access-date=28 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170528115058/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/diane-abbott-ira-regret-jeremy-corbyn-defeat-british-state-a7759926.html |archive-date=28 May 2017}}</ref>

===Paid speech to university undergraduates===
In 2013, Abbott was criticised by [[University of Birmingham]] students after it emerged that in 2011, she charged the university £1,750 for a 50-minute speech to undergraduates. An online petition called on Abbott to repay the money to be used for educational purposes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Griffin |first=Jon |date=22 August 2013 |title=Diane Abbott charges £1,750 for speaking to students |url=http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/news/local-news/diane-abbott-charges-1750-speaking-5774227 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819061843/http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/news/local-news/diane-abbott-charges-1750-speaking-5774227 |archive-date=19 August 2017 |access-date=19 August 2017 |website=[[Birmingham Post]]}}</ref>

===Sasha Johnson tweet===
Following the shooting of [[Sasha Johnson]] on 23 May 2021, Abbott tweeted:
{{blockquote|Black activist #SashaJohnson in hospital in critical condition after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head. Nobody should have to potentially pay with their life because they stood up for racial justice.<ref>{{cite web |date=24 May 2021 |title=Diane Abbott's Tweet on Sasha Johnson |url=https://twitter.com/hackneyabbott/status/1396756228034990082 |access-date=2021-06-02 |website=Twitter}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite web |last=Morris |first=James |date=25 May 2021 |title=Diane Abbott denies tweet about BLM activist shot in head inflamed racial divides |url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/diane-abbott-tweet-blm-activist-103053961.html |access-date=2 June 2021 |website=uk.news.yahoo.com |language=en-GB}}</ref>}}

The tweet was criticised by a Home Office source who accused Abbott of departing from the facts and stoking racial tensions by suggesting that the shooting was racially motivated and that Johnson was targeted because of her activism.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dathan |first1=Matt |last2=Mitab |first2=Ali |last3=Hamilton |first3=Fiona |date=26 May 2021 |title=Diane Abbott accused of stoking racial tension over shooting of BLM activist Sasha Johnson |work=[[The Times]] |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/diane-abbott-accused-of-stoking-racial-tension-over-shooting-of-blm-activist-sasha-johnson-gc8hmfrfq |access-date=29 May 2021}}</ref> Abbott denies the claim that the tweet inflamed racial divides.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Dale |first=Iain |author-link=Iain Dale |date=2 June 2021 |title=Iain Dale's Diary: What the BBC's Chris Mason gets right, and is Dominic Cummings really advising Keir Starmer? |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2021/06/iain-dales-diary-what-bbc-s-chris-mason-gets-right-and-dominic-cummings-really |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602174307/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2021/06/iain-dales-diary-what-bbc-s-chris-mason-gets-right-and-dominic-cummings-really |archive-date=2 June 2021 |access-date=8 August 2021 |website=New Statesman}}</ref>