Editing Diane Abbott (section)

===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>