Icon Diane Abbott paved the way for politicians like me

Summer 1987 was a blur for the most part. I was sitting my O levels and my parents had high expectations. I come from a generation of Asian kids for whom their families chose their career. I was destined to be a lawyer and I had to make the grade.

Growing up as one of five girls and fighting to be heard during political debates around the dinner table, I had developed both the art of using my voice and having an opinion. But our on-screen role models were few.

Floella from Playschool, now Baroness Benjamin and Trevor from the news, now Sir Trevor McDonald were a small number of faces that felt familiar.

So, in June 1987 when Diane Abbott, a young black woman was elected as the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington I felt seen. This was a woman of colour who was using her voice and had an opinion.

Born and raised in Yorkshire I had no idea where Hackney was, but I knew this was a historic moment.

I come from a mixed political family, Dad started life as a factory worker and a Labour voter, Mum was a homemaker, hugely aspirational and voted Thatcher. And yet this moment didn’t feel party political, Diane's win was a win for all people who felt different, whatever their politics and whichever part of the country they lived in.

She went onto become one of the most recognised figures in politics, both at home and overseas and with that came plaudits and sadly also a spotlight of hate.

In the run up to the 2017 general election she faced a relentless campaign of abuse with an Amnesty International report citing her as being the most targeted female MP.

In 2008, as a very young and new parliamentarian, I recall listening to her speech on the defence of civil liberties and against 42 days detention without charge. A speech described by David Davies, the then Shadow Home Secretary, as “one of the finest (he) had heard since being elected to the House of Commons”.

I opposed this draconian legislation, as did most of the Conservative Party. Diane led a successful Labour rebellion resulting in Gordon Brown as PM having to abandon the proposals. For me she became a political hero, a warrior who was prepared to stand up for what was right for the country even if it was not right for her party.

Her April 2023 letter to The Observer which said “Irish, Jewish and Traveller people… undoubtedly experience prejudice… But they are not all their lives subject to racism," was not Diane's finest moment. She recognised her mistake and both withdrew the comments and apologised. Even those that have spent a lifetime fighting for equalities can sometimes get it wrong. My own mistakes on the issue of gay rights is one such example.

However, what has followed since then with an opaque and drawn-out disciplinary process has said more about the Labour Party than it has about the issue of racism.

Her treatment at the hands of some in the Labour Party has been difficult to watch. Equally uncomfortable was watching her make 46 attempts to stand and not called at Prime Ministers Questions where questions were raised about Tory Donor, Frank Hester's, comments that she made him “hate all black women" and that she “should be shot”. Hester has since apologised for his comments.

These moments have felt cruel and unnecessary. For her future to be uncertain and not knowing whether she would stand at the next general election has appeared gratuitously vindictive. News of her whip being restored was soured by confusing briefings that she had effectively been banned from standing in Hackney at the forthcoming general election. The briefing gave the impression of overzealous and under-qualified silly boys in suits. Starmer has since denied that Abbott has been blocked from standing for Labour.

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What may have been an attempt to damage Abbott has in fact damaged the Labour Party.

If the object of the briefing was to win some Tory leaning votes by feeding the beast of division by targeting a black female MP or if it was a signal that Labour had changed from its Corbyn period past, I can tell you it didn't work.

The Conservative Party has held many firsts when it comes to female and ethnic minority politicians, interestingly far more than Labour. From Prime Ministers to the major offices of state, women and ethnic minorities in the Conservative Party have broken many barriers.

Diane Abbott as the first black female MP was a political first Labour should rightly be proud of. They need to be careful not to trash their legacy on equalities.

I was the first British Muslim to take a seat in a UK Cabinet. I stood on the shoulders of those that came before me and that includes Diane.

She has admirers across the political divide, not necessarily for her politics because but because for so many of us she will always be an iconic figure and the moment that so many of us felt seen. Labour's attempts to erase her do them no favours.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi is a member of the House of Lords who served as co-chairwoman of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2012

29/05/2024