Diane Abbott let back into Labour Party a year after controversial suspension

Dianne Abbott has been sitting as an independent MP since her suspension last year (Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Diane Abbott has been readmitted into the Labour Party over a year after she was suspended.

Parliament’s longest-serving female MP was kicked out of the party after an antisemitism row.

Labour MP Joani Reid has also been readmitted into the party.

She has been sitting as an independent MP since March after she said she was ‘voluntarily suspending herself’ after her husband was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.

Joana Reid has rejoined the Labour ranks (Picture: UK Parliament/PA Wire)

A Labour spokesperson said in a statement that both women would also be readmitted into the parliamentary party, meaning they can sit as Labour MPs once again.

Abbott was suspended from the Labour backbenches in July 2025 after she defended previous comments about racism.

In a letter to The Observer in 2023, Abbot argued that people of colour experienced racism “all their lives” and said that was different to the ‘prejudice’ experienced by Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers.

The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP apologised for those comments at the time and was suspended for a year.

But in an interview with BBC Radio 4 last year, Abbott said she did not look at back the row with regret.

Abbott said: ‘Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don’t know.

‘But if you see a black person walking down the street, you see straight away that they’re black. They are different types of racism.”

She added: ‘I just think that it’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism.

‘I don’t know why people would say that.’

Diane Abbott was a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn (Picture: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

Abbot was then suspended by Labour while they investigated.

In a post on X, Abbott wrote: ‘Today, following a process conducted in line with party rules and approved by the independent review process I have been readmitted to the Labour party.”

She said she had been ‘issued with a formal warning for a tweet I previously posted’, in which she referred to the Israel Defense Forces as the ‘Jewish Defence Force’.

‘I used wording that conflates the actions of the state of Israel with the Jewish community. I am deeply sorry for any hurt caused by that conflation and apologise for any hurt caused by it.’

She added: ‘I have been and remain a lifelong anti-racist and remain deeply committed to opposing racism in all of its forms.’

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