Diane Abbott has been suspended a second time over comments she originally made about racism in 2023 © Google Images
Labour suspends Diane Abbott a second time as Starmer purge fails to quell unrest
Ejecting rebels further divides backbenchers from leadership
Jim Pickard, George Parker and Anna Gross FT Published 17-07-2025
Diane Abbott was suspended by Labour on Thursday for a second time — becoming the fifth party MP to be ejected this week as Sir Keir Starmer’s government moves to reassert its authority and crack down on backbench unrest.
Abbott was suspended after doubling down on comments from 2023 in which she argued that Jewish people experienced “prejudice” rather than racism — remarks that led to her original ejection from the party.
Labour’s removal of her backing comes the day after the party withdrew the whip from four rebel backbenchers who it accused of being ringleaders of the unrest. It also sacked three “trade envoys”, in an attempt to crack down on rebellions that have undermined the prime minister’s authority.
However, the rash of suspensions just days before parliament’s summer recess has failed to defuse a febrile mood among Labour MPs.
“This was unnecessarily vindictive, it was vicious and shows how they just see MPs as lobby fodder,” said one Labour MP, referring to the rebels’ suspensions, before adding that it had only further inflamed tensions between backbenchers and the leadership. “They treat us like shit on their shoe.”
On Wednesday, jokes among MPs on one Labour WhatsApp group — such as “what kind of biscuits” MPs should bring after being summoned to see party whips — fizzled out as it became clear a purge was under way.
One aide compared the suspensions to the medieval tradition of plunging the severed heads of rebels on to spikes atop city battlements to deter others from challenging the authorities.
The prime minister defended the decision on the rebels on Thursday, saying: “We had to deal with people who repeatedly break the whip because everyone was elected as a Labour MP on a manifesto of change and everyone has to deliver as a Labour government.”
Ministers are worried about further rebellions in the months ahead on topics ranging from special needs education and maintaining the two-child benefit cap to tax rises. One minister said: “This will give people something to think about over the summer. You have to have discipline.”
With the biggest Labour majority for four decades, the whips can afford to lose a handful of dissidents, Number 10 believes.
Abbott’s suspension was unrelated to Wednesday’s moves, coming instead after she used a BBC interview this week to reiterate comments that Jewish and Irish people suffered “prejudice” rather than “racism”.
The party declined to offer a reason, saying: “Diane Abbott has been administratively suspended from the Labour party, pending an investigation.” It added: “We cannot comment further while this investigation is ongoing.”
The suspensions come as a fledgling party set up by Zarah Sultana — herself suspended last summer — with former leader Jeremy Corbyn seeks to outflank Labour from the left.
The biggest showdown came last month when ministers made a panicked retreat in the face of a potential rebellion by 126 MPs over plans to strip £5bn from the bloated welfare bill.
The subsequent hollowing out of the bill was enough to peel off most of the rebels. However, even then, 47 Labour MPs still voted against the gutted legislation, instead backing a rebel amendment from York MP Rachael Maskell.
It was for that act of brazen rebellion that Maskell was among the quartet of MPs to lose the whip on Wednesday. Close to tears, she told journalists she was standing up for her Christian principles and protecting disabled constituents.
The other three MPs to lose the whip were all newly elected last year in Starmer’s landslide, and had all been at the forefront of rebellions as well as the welfare dispute.
Chris Hinchliff, MP for North East Hertfordshire, led a rebellion against the planning and infrastructure bill. Neil Duncan-Jordan, MP for Poole, organised colleagues against the cuts to winter fuel payments, forcing a government U-turn. Brian Leishman, MP for Alloa & Grangemouth, was a persistent critic of the administration.
One Labour veteran described the suspensions as political “executions”, and said they were at odds with Starmer’s promise to work alongside his party to make welfare changes.
“You can’t on the one hand be making conciliatory noises and then go all Stalin on people,” said another Labour MP.
Perhaps they should not have been surprised by the reprisals.
A year ago, just as MPs were about to head off for the summer, Starmer suspended seven backbenchers who rebelled over the two-child benefit cap — though three were subsequently allowed back in.
At the height of last month’s welfare rebellion, MPs were threatened with deselection, losing constituency funding, facing an early election or even — some believed — hourly batches of mass suspensions.
One Labour MP said after the suspensions: “There was something very ‘The Godfather’ about the way they promised to listen, and are now taking rebels out the back and shooting them.”
At the heart of the suspensions, however, was the fact that so many MPs had rebelled over welfare even after Starmer had agreed to a humiliating retreat.
“These people have got to know when to stop whining,” said one minister. “They won on the welfare vote. But they just kept going. You’ve got to know when to stop.”
Another minister said: “This was right at the top end of the scale of naughtiness — putting down an amendment to block legislation which is central to the government’s fiscal plans. You had to do something.”
Several Labour MPs on the right of the party said not enough MPs had been punished.
One figure who signed the original list of 126 rebels seeking changes to the welfare bill — but then backed down — said he agreed.
“The balance of the [Parliamentary Labour party] is 100 per cent with Downing Street on this and believes they could have taken the whip from even more people,” he said. “This was a multibillion pound reset. They addressed all the substantive problems with the legislation. For so many MPs to then still break the whip on this was really over the top.”
Many MPs on the left of the party believe the break-up with the leadership is not reconcilable. One new MP said: “We’ve been lied to yet again when they said they were going to listen to us”.
The MP said colleagues were annoyed about being treated with “contempt” by senior government figures, pointing to how the suspensions were referred to as “cleansing the party” and eliminating “knob-headery”.
The MP added that they were expecting huge fights in the autumn on funding for special education needs and the autumn budget, even if those incipient rebellions did not feel very organised.
They added that they were “resigned” to the two-child benefit cap staying.
Another Labour MP struck a defiant note: “There are 126 of us who were prepared to rebel. They can’t take us all out.”
