Editing Diane Abbott (section)

===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>