Diane Abbott

Perhaps she's not very well, in which case she'd do better to stand down.

I wondered about her health Niggly whilst listening to her interview.

Oh come on it's obvious that she was trying to improve the figures and hoping the last results to come in had gone to Labour. So she said 50. The interviewer who had more up to date info knew it was 125. The last time she had looked it had been 100. Obviously she was wrong but can't be thought inadequate because she was optimistic. As for the 125 she would have been incommunicado whilst they set her up for interviewing, the interviewer obviously wasn't.

Interesting link MB

" Answering questions about Labour’s net losses in the local elections, shadow home secretary estimates that the number of seats lost by her party is ‘about 50’, but is told by the interviewer that the figure actually stands at about 125. Abbott then pauses and alters her answer, saying: ‘Well, the last time I looked we had net losses of 100 but obviously this is a moving picture.’"

trisher

" Oh come on it's obvious that she was trying to improve the figures and hoping the last results to come in had gone to Labour. So she said 50. "

You mean she made figures up!

So you answer a current question by stating a figure of 50 but within a nanno second you admit you know you were trying it on and admit you knew it was 100.

Your argument that Abbott was somehow making a comment of where Labour would be by the time all of the results were presumably in, in other words a guesstimate was not the question asked .

Anybody who has watched Dianne Abbott over the years is fully aware she often appears to make things up on the hoof. The election , her Shadow Cabinet position , the fact she is a high profile spokesperson for Labour will by it's nature mean she is in the public eye.

There is no hiding place and to be honest when the public can 'Hear from the horses mouth' they are perfectly capable of seeing and hearing somebody out of their depth, not on top of their brief.

Exactly - if she was aware of 100, why on earth did she say 50 ? Or was she hoping things might have picked up?

Of course she was MawBroon. There were probably results to come in that. were forecast as Labour but were lost. She was asked how many seats Labour had lost and gave an answer based on that. And of course it was a guess.
The interviewer would well have known she wouldn't know.
It takes ages to set up a formal interview, she would have had make-up and lights tests. The interviewer of course gets his first and then uses his phone to find out what she couldn't possibly know.
She should have told him that.

All these defensive posts about Abbott and her incompetence!

Excuses, excuses.

Maybe there is a health issue?
Did she not miss the Brexit vote because she was tired (no, I didn't say "tired and emotional")

I'm only trying to be kind, and you never quite know!

I thought she missed the Brexit vote because she was having a migraine. Don't let the truth get in the way of a good put-down, though.

Was it the truth though? We only have her word for that.

I reckon she is menopausal. Memory loss, getting flustered and bad heads are par for the course. She is probably sweating (aren't all Labour politicians at the moment).

Blimey, she's 63 - quite late to be menopausal, surely?

Having employed someone who suffered from migraines, I would never doubt anyone's word on that.

Is she! Must admit I hadn't checked her age. Therefore she has no excuse except she is past it and should retire; as should her ex-boyfriend.

Yes. But a most convenient incapacity in this case.

Sorry, but migraines are anything but convenient.

There is a condition called dyscalculia, which is a kind of numerical dyslexia. Maybe DA suffers from that.
or maybe she's just confused!

She might even have been pre or post migraine. I find myself very muddle headed at these times. I can be thinking one word and another will come out. I even slur my words at times. I am not a particular Diane Abbott fan but can sympathise with her if her gaffes were because of migraines,

durhamjen you have no idea whether DA suffers from migraines regularly, have you? So your concern may well be misplaced in this instance.

No one's saying that migraines are not incapacitating when they are genuine.

Oh dear, so the poor woman's a victim now! Perhaps she should retire on health grounds then.

Suffering from fear of visable committment to something she didn't want while not wanting to upset her leader. So you play the sick card.

I am prepared to give people who say they have a migraine the benefit of the doubt.
Some people on here are often much more garbled than Abbott ever is. I wonder if they suffer from migraines.
I do not know that, either.

Perhaps all those who would like to be MPs should give their full medical history to the voters, just in case.

I only have Theresa May's word for it that she is type 1 diabetic. I haven't seen her medical records.

Mawbroon, yes I did feel all those emotions you mentioned, I did wonder if she was feeling ill.I find her difficult to follow in general , a bit like the presenter who drawls out his words very slowly, I can't remember his name at the moment.