Wyllow3
Glorianny
Diane Abbott should of course have been permitted to stand as a Labour candidate. The rumour is that she was planning to resign anyway. If she had been allowed to stand and had declined because of her ill health Starmer would have had a wonderful PR opportunity. There would have been huge amounts of publicity about her and her outstanding career. He could have congratulated her and recognised her achievements. She could have retired gracefully.
Instead it's turned into a complete farce.
She was never "unpermitted" to stand. We would have heard about that when it happened.
It was the Times MSM article who stirred it up that she was banned and then came the reaction.
Guess is everyone was expecting an autumn election and the NEC and Abbott herself hadn't taken any steps as to her standing
Except that Starmer (as usual) has been unclear on the matter.
The agreed process after her statement was
Labour's NEC issued her with a "formal warning" for "engaging in conduct that was in the opinion of the NEC, prejudicial and grossly detrimental to the Labour Party".
It said it expected her to undertake an "online, e-learning module" which a source said was a two-hour antisemitism awareness course.
Ms Abbott did the module in February, after which it is understood she received an email from Labour's chief whip acknowledging she had completed it
However, as recently as Friday, Sir Keir had been saying the investigation into her comments was not "resolved
So her standing as an MP was absolutely not certain.
Diane Abbott had done what was required why the NEC did not reinstate her after that is anyone's guess but the fact that Starmer was saying it was "unresolved" is a real clue.
I agree probably an election wasn't expected.