Labour oust Diane Abbott MP

Britain’s longest serving Black MP has been sacked as a Shadow Cabinet member. In a move that shocked many in the Black community, Abbott was told she was no longer wanted on Labour’s front bench.

Abbott left with her dignity intact stating that she had enjoyed her role, but would now concentrate on her constituency.

But many will wonder about what signal this sends out to Britain’s Black voters as the parties prepare for the 2015 General Election.

Many commentators have seen Ed Miliband’s move as a signal that he has removed those shadow ministers who were associated with the Tony Blair Government such as shadow Education Minister Stephen Twigg, Pensions Minister Liam Byrne and others who are seen not to play well with certain sections of the public, such as Diane Abbott.

And whilst it’s true that Diane has her detractors, the vast majority of those detractors don’t like her because she will not hide from speaking out against persistent race inequalities, particularly around education, but also ‘stop and search’, and employment.

But what is equally troubling is that fact that the Labour leader can oust Abbott and feel confident that there will be no political fallout from Black voters. Surely the Labour party should be promoting those politicians who are brave enough to speak out against race inequality. It’s all well and good having the likes of Chuka Umunna, and Sadiq Khan on the front bench in prominent roles, we support that, but Abbott was one of the few front bench BME MP’s who would consistently speak out about race issues.

The Labour Party should seriously ask some questions about how it is treating Black women in the party, after two other Labour women were treated in the most deplorable fashion. First, Adeline Aina who legitimately won a Councillor selection battle in Lambeth which deselected a local Cabinet member, only to find that the Cabinet members department,-Housing- along with the local Labour party had begun a vicious witch hunt, in an attempt to discredit and overturn the decision.

And just last week Cllr Josie Channer, who was selected to fight the winnable seat of Bristol was not only forced to resign by the Labour party for having a number of parking tickets-which she thought had been dealt with - but having resigned, her local Labour party, in Barking and Dagenham sent a document to the media in a bid to trounce her reputation. Politically having fallen on her sword, why did the party feel they had to crush her too?

The Labour party which has received up to 75% of the Black vote during election time has always been seen as friend of the Black community, but just lately a number of incidents lead many to ask; is the Labour Party taking the Black vote for granted?

Let’s hope not, but if it is, it will do so at its peril.

Simon Woolley