Diane Abbott to QUIT as Shadow Home Secretary when new Labour boss elected

0
137

LABOUR’S Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott will quit the frontbenches as soon as the party’s next leader is elected.

Ms Abbott said she will fight a “swerve to the right” in the party from the backbenches and threw her support behind Corbynista candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey.

Diane Abbott will quit the shadow cabinet

Hackney MP Ms Abbott said she will resign no matter who takes the top Labour job.

She told Sky: “I will be stepping down because I think the new leader, whether it’s Becky, whether it’s Lisa (Nandy), whether it’s Keir (Starmer), they’ll have to be able to choose their own shadow cabinet.”

She said she would take her fight to the backbenches of parliament.

“I was a backbencher for a few years and there is an awful lot to do on the backbenches. One of the things that I’d want to do is make sure that we don’t make a swerve to the right on migration policy – I think that’s dead end for the Labour Party.

She added: “We have to stand by our principles and stand by our values and make sure we have an immigration policy which is fair and which is workable.”

Ms Abbott also said a female Labour leader was “long overdue” and not having one was “embarrassing” for the party.

Ms Long-Bailey is up against Wigan MP Lisa Nandy and shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer in the race for the Labour leader.

A devastating survey over the weekend showed Ms Long-Bailey could be heading for a humiliating third-place defeat.

The shadow home secretary was pressed on her claim it was “unlikely” former speaker John Bercow had bullied one of his senior parliamentary officials.

Her since-deleted tweet read: “Allegations come from former parliamentary official David Leakey. He had been a lieutenant General who served in Germany, Northern Ireland and Bosnia. But claims he was bullied (i.e. intimidated and coerced) by John Bercow. Unlikely.”

She defended her tweet, telling Sophy Ridge: “Anybody can be intimidated. But I think that given Leakey and the leadership roles that he played, as I said I think it’s unlikely he was intimidated by John Bercow.”

Ballot papers for the Labour leadership race have finally gone out to members, who will cast their votes by April 2.

The leader will be announced on April 4 and Jeremy Corbyn will finally step down.

Rebecca Long-Bailey is a Labour MP - and a fierce Jeremy Corbyn supporter
Ms Abbott backed Corbynista candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey
The final leader will be announced on April 4