Editing Diane Abbott (section)

===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>