ON A night that saw Labour win a historic landslide victory in the General Election Diane Abbott has retained her seat as the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.
The long-serving respected Labour MP won 23,355 votes as she beat Conservative David Landau and Green Party candidate Antoinette Fernandez.
Abbott remains one of the longest-serving MPs in parliament after she was first elected in 1987 becoming the first Black woman to enter the house. Last night’s success marked her 10th election victory in a row as the candidate for the Hackney North constituency.
Statement
Supporters claimed her win made an important statement after a row around whether or not she would be allowed to stand for Labour this time.
Abbott had been suspended from the party last year, after suggesting Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experience prejudice, but not racism “all their lives” – sparking a long-running process which saw her sit as an independent MP.
In May she told the media she had been banned from standing as a Labour MP at the next general election following a months-long internal party investigation into her comments for which had apologised.
However despite Labour announcing that the whip had been restored she said it was her understanding she would not be allowed to stand in the General Election as a Labour MP.
Support
Later, hundreds of supporters gathered outside Hackney Town Hall to express support for her.
The row led to widespread criticism of the Labour leadership and in particular of Sir Keir Starmer on social media platforms leading him to strongly deny she had been barred from contesting the Hackney and Stoke Newington seat as a Labour MP.
Abbott previously served as Shadow Home Secretary during Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure as party leader.
Her victory came amid a Labour landslide election victory which also left the Conservatives almost wiped off the political map in London.
New prime minister Starmer told cheering supporters in central London that “change begins now” adding that “It feels good, I have to be honest.”
Speaking after news of Labour’s win was confirmed Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak said: “The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight, there is much to learn… and I take responsibility for the loss.”
Under Keir Starmer Labour have won more seats than party insiders would ever have thought possible in the wake of the 2019 general election.
POPULAR CANDIDATE: Jovan Owusu-Nepaul
However, according to analysis from BBC News the party performed badly in seats with large numbers of Muslim voters. Labour’s vote is down on average by 10 points in seats where more than 10% of the population identify as Muslim according to the analysis which it says could be a key reason why Labour’s Claudia Webbe lost the long-held seat of Leicester East.
Reform UK
The Conservatives’ loss of votes to Reform UK appeared to cost the party dearly. Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage became the MP for Clacton promising “this is just the first step of something that is going to stun all of you”.
The Clacton contest was overshadowed by anger over Labour’s treatment of rising star Jovan Owusu-Nepaul who was told by party leaders to stop campaigning in the constituency according to a member of his campaign team.
They said the decision left him ‘broken’ and in ‘tears’ leading to accusations that Labour had failed to put up any sort of opposition to Farage.
Reform has four MPs so far – including chairman Richard Tice and former Tory Lee Anderson – and is finishing second in many parts of the country, taking large numbers of votes from the Conservatives.
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