Diane Abbott: Minority groups condemn Labour MP's 'anti-Semitic' comments and warn there cannot be 'hierarchy of racism'

Minority groups have warned there cannot be a “hierarchy of racism” after Labour MP Diane Abbott lost the whip for comments suggesting Jewish, Irish and Traveller people are not subject to racism “all their lives”.

Ms Abbott said in a letter in The Observer that although white people “with points of difference” suffer prejudice, they have not suffered the same racism as black people.

The first black woman elected to Parliament, Ms Abbott also appeared to suggest they were no different to someone suffering prejudice for having red hair.

Speaking to The Scotsman, the national chair of Jewish Labour, Mike Katz, warned racists hated all minorities equally.

Diane Abbott has had the Labour whip suspended following comments about racism.

He said: “My first reaction was incredulity and horror. This argument that somehow Jewish people, Gypsies, Roma, Travellers and Irish people hadn’t suffered racism, then that it’s a prejudice like people who have red hair, it’s so mind boggling that someone with the track record of Diane would say that.

“Let’s be clear, she’s overcome a huge amount of discrimination. She’s the country’s first female black MP, and the amount of discrimination and racism she has fought might have made her alive to the danger of making assertions that pit communities against each other.

“That sets up a hierarchy of racism that doesn’t exist. Fascists and racists don’t think there's a hierarchy of racism, they hate everyone equally.”

Mr Katz, who sits on Labour’s Antisemitism Advisory Board, also criticised any Conservatives who sought to use the issue to score points.

He said: “That makes me really uncomfortable. It’s a problem across society, and the idea that the Government would seek to make it a party political thing is really poor judgement because the Labour party under Keir Starmer has absolutely owned the fact that it didn’t do right by its members during the [Jeremy] Corbyn period.

“It’s doesn’t mean the journey is over, but the Human Rights Commission has given the party the green light. To use this to say none of that has happened or all been wholly performative is not the right judgement.”

SNP MP Martin Docherty-Hughes, vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Gypsies, Travellers and Roma and also the vice-chair of the Ireland and the Irish in Britain APPG, called the idea of a hierarchy of racism “deeply troubling”.

He said: “I was absolutely shocked at the comments given she has suffered some of the most appalling and vile racism in modern politics. To see that letter published in her name was absolutely astounding, I was speechless.

“I’m sure it comes as no surprise to the Jewish community that anti-Semitism still holds among people in a position of authority. It certainly comes as no surprise to Gypsies, Travellers and Roma that they’re also a target.

“As someone who is a Scot who is Irish, I am never shocked by the anti-Irish sentiment which sits under the surface of British political life. You only need to look at the comments made about President [Joe] Biden in the British press, to see the contempt in which the Irish can still be held in British Society.”

The West Dunbartonshire MP also claimed the attitudes in Parliament were “appalling”. “I sit and listen to my English constituency colleagues both in the chamber, in the Conservative party and some in the Labour party make horrendously racist comments about the community and absolutely no one is held to account.

“The left and the right in their extremes, their siloed views of the world enables them to believe this sort of stuff is an acceptable political position.”

John Henry Phillips, a policy and research officer at the charity Friends, Families and Travellers, claimed racist comments towards Gypsies, Travellers and Roma were commonplace. He said: “When I first saw, I wasn’t shocked or surprised because these things seem to happen every few weeks, whether it’s a comedian or politician.

“I was very disappointed, especially for someone who has a history of tackling racism. Last year a big one was when Matthew Parris wrote a piece calling for the stripping away of the ethnic status of Gypsies and Travellers, labelling the ethnicity and culture a doomed mindset.

“David Baddiel a few weeks ago published a piece that downplayed the number of Romani Gypsies who were killed in the Holocaust. Jimmy Carr in his Netflix special said nobody wants to talk about 500,000 Gypsies who were killed in the Holocaust, because nobody wants to talk about the good sides.

“People need to realise it’s throwing meat to the lions. It’s such an acceptable form of racism that the public often seem ready to agree with it.”

Warning against the use of a hierarchy of racism, Mr Phillips claimed there had been “500 years of consistent legislation aimed at Romani Gypsies in everything but name”. He said: “It was a hangable offence to be Romani until the 1600s. Before that it was deportation, if they wouldn’t leave they’d be hanged. They’d be shipped as slaves to the colonies and kept as slaves in Europe.

“If people realised how badly they are treated, they’d be shocked.”

Mr Phillips added the community had the highest rate of unemployment, suicide and long-term disability and lowest education outcomes of all ethnic minority groups.

Sir Keir condemned Ms Abbott’s comments as “anti-Semitic” and said they would never be accepted in the party.

The Labour leader also could not say if Ms Abbott should not stand again for her London constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington at the next general election, stating: “There’s an investigation in place. I’ve got to let that investigation be completed.”

Ms Abbott has since apologised over the comments, claiming “errors arose in an initial draft being sent”. Writing on Twitter, she explained: “I wish to wholly and unreservedly withdraw my written remarks and disassociate myself from them. Racism takes many forms and it is completely undeniable that Jewish people have suffered its monstrous effects, as have Irish people, travellers and many others.

“Once again, I would like to apologise publicly for the remarks and any distress caused as a result of them.”