It’s Women’s History Month: “I’m not trying to be racist”, but Diane Abbott makes me “want to hate all black women”.
Just days after celebrating International Women’s Day, The Guardian’s headlines revealed shocking comments by Conservative donor Frank Hester. The Yorkshire businessman stated that looking at Diane Abbott makes him “want to hate all black women” before further mentioning how he wishes that the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington “should be shot”. 2024: what a time to be a woman!
So, who is Diane Abbott, and what has she done? Abbott is the first black woman elected to Parliament and the longest-standing black MP – a trailblazer, if you will. Like all politicians (and people), she is not perfect. Her stance on certain issues has been controversial, with her 2023 statement on racism felt in Irish, travelling, and Jewish communities being incomparable to the experiences of black people seeing Labour remove the party whip. She now sits as an independent, but chatter from Commons over the past couple of weeks suggests that there may be some demand for Abbott to return to the party.
Throughout her political career, she, like so many, has faced a disgusting amount of race and gender-related hate. However, a review from Amnesty International after the 2017 general election highlighted;
- Abbott was notably the highest receiver of this abuse, where, at points in the study, over 45% of online hate was directed solely at her.
- Over the 158 days, abusive Tweets against Abbott averaged 51 per day, with many threatening acts of sexual violence and rape against her.
There is no space here to speak about who Frank Hester is, except that he is an influential figure for the Tories after donating £10 million to the party in the last year. This is hugely concerning. A man with such disturbing racist views has the financial power to become involved with British democracy (if we can still call it a democracy?). Since the exposure of this scandal, Labour has called on Sunak to return the money and openly distance themselves from these unforgivable racist remarks.
What on earth is going on in the House of Commons?
The day after The Guardian’s expose, Abbott took to Good Morning Britain to release a statement. She pleaded to Labour leader Keir Starmer for public support against racial abuse and hate. She took the time to acknowledge the two tragic murders of former colleagues over the recent years (Jo Cox, 2016 and Sir David Amess, 2021). She shared her fears for her safety, even within her constituency. Her sentiment of vulnerability for single women walking alone is one shared by so many across the UK, with only this week here in Leeds; stories reach the news about a woman in her 30s being attacked at a bus stop in Headingley one evening.
What is our government doing about it, then? Long story short, I would not recommend holding your breath. The PMQs on the Wednesday following the story’s release saw Abbott attempt to speak to the Commons on multiple occasions, with male members of the House choosing to voice their opinion on the matter. She was not called upon at all within this debate.
The matter has become a political pawn for the two dominating parties to manipulate to their liking. Instead, the real issue has been pushed to the side as collateral damage. Women are scared and will continue to be scared when comments like these are continuously pardoned. When Sunak took the box, he claimed that as Hester was remorseful for his comments, the entire situation should be forgotten and dismissed as part of history.
This Women’s History Month, it would be interesting to see the British Parliament work hard to protect their longest-serving black MP. Diane Abbott is a huge part of female and black history in the UK; let’s start acknowledging that.
Update: as of Friday, 22nd March, 11 days after the first article was published, West Yorkshire Police have launched an investigation to establish if a crime has been committed through Hester’s comments.
Sources:
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/online-violence-women-mps
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68542624
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68636193
Written By: Georgia Vallis
Edited By: Aimee Boo