Starmer has said this is factually incorrect, but that hasn’t stopped Abbott and her allies crying foul and the leader’s team seems unsure how to respond.
At first, it seemed Starmer’s officials seemed happy enough to have the fight with Abbott’s backers — who were also Corbyn’s backers. They thought it proved his point that Labour had moved on from the bad old days of election-losing, hard-left failure.
But by Thursday, the dispute was in danger of spiraling out of Starmer’s control. Abbott vowed to defy the leadership and stand in her old seat regardless of whether she’s denied Labour backing. Corbyn had already announced he’ll stand as an independent candidate in his old seat. Faiza Shaheen, another leftwing candidate who’s been denied the chance to stand for Labour, is threatening legal action.
The concern for Starmer is that Abbott, who was suspended last year after saying Jewish people did not face racism in the same way Black people do, will ultimately win a PR battle, even one that is most closely followed by political obsessives on the British left.
On Thursday, Starmer tried to dampen the flames, praising Abbott as a trailblazer. His deputy, Angela Rayner went even further, saying she saw no reason why Abbott could not stand again to be a Labour member of Parliament.
But there are other fracture lines not far beneath the surface of Starmer’s ship. In common with parties on the left around the world, the Labour family has been bitterly divided over how to respond to the Israel-Hamas war. Watered-down climate commitments and Starmer’s restrained tax and spending policies are also sore points for many Labour supporters.
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