Diane Abbott advised Jeremy Corbyn against setting up a new political party, she said, over concerns it would struggle to get a foothold in Britain because of the voting system.
Ms Abbott, who served as Mr Corbynâs shadow home secretary when he was Labour leader, said she had spoken to him before its launch, and said it was not a good idea.
Speaking at an event at the Edinburgh Book Festival, the current longest-serving female MP said: âThere were people around Jeremy encouraging him to set up a new party, and I told him not to.
âItâs very difficult under first-past-the-post system for a new party to absolutely win. If it wasnât first-past-the-post, then you can see how a new party could come through, but I understand why he did it.â
Ms Abbott said she thought the party, formed by her long-time friend Independent MP Mr Corbyn (Islington North) alongside Independent MP Zarah Sultana (Coventry South), would outperform peopleâs expectations.
It was launched last month, but is still without a formal name. She said she believed it would take advantage of a broader discontent with politics in Britain.
She paid tribute to Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana but said: âAt this point in time, itâs difficult to see how a brand new party wins.
âHowever, I think Jeremyâs party is going to do a lot better than people think because a lot of people who are not necessarily terribly left-wing people, are a tiny bit disappointed about the way weâve gone in the past year.â
The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington indicated her disappointment with the Labour Government.
She had the whip withdrawn for the second time in two years in July, after she expressed a lack of regret about comments to the Observer in 2023 that suggested that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experience prejudice, but not racism.
However, she implied she would not join Mr Corbynâs party.
Ms Abbott said: âItâs a tricky state of play. I wouldnât have thought that youâd have a Labour Government and theyâd be cutting winter fuel allowance for the elderly and benefits for the disabled.â
She was also critical of the Governmentâs proscription of Palestine Action and labelled the decision âa complete disgraceâ.
âWhat they are seeking to do is proscribe protest as such,â she said. âI mean, we all saw the pictures of the people in Trafalgar Square â 500 people? Half of them over 60. Come on, these are terrorists? I think this is an attempt to bear down on (protest).â
She added her more than 40 years in Labour meant it was too late to leave it. She was elected to Parliament in 1987, and was the only black female MP in the Commons for a decade until Labourâs landslide under Tony Blair.
In response to a question about whether she thought she would ever be accepted âat the heartâ of the Labour Party, she replied: âI think I am at the heart of the Labour Party, itâs other people who arenât.â
Ms Abbott, whose book A Woman Like Me, was the subject of the interview in the Scottish capital by campaigner Talat Yaqoob, also told the audience of her anger at not being called by Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle in the aftermath of racist comments by Conservative Party donor Frank Hester in 2024.
She said she had stood during a Prime Ministerâs Question session more than 40 times to be called to speak, after Sir Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak and Sir Ed Davey had all spoken about the incident.
Mr Hester was reported to have said Ms Abbott made him want to âhate all black womenâ and that she âshould be shotâ.
The remarks brought widespread condemnation, including from Sir Keir, but she told the event her office was used to receiving racist abuse.
âIâve been an MP for 38 years, and custom practice in the chamber is if youâre being talked about, you get called. Itâs just a courtesy. I was so shocked that I wasnât called.
âBut I heard later from someone who had reason to know, that what happened was that Rishi didnât want me called, because (Hester) was a Tory donor and it would look bad for them, and Iâm afraid Keir Starmer didnât want me called because he wanted to milk the issue (for) political advantage, without mentioning me.â
She said Sir Keir had approached her after the questions session and asked what he could do to help.
âI said, âYes, you can restore the whipâ. And as if he hadnât heard, he said, âIs there anything I can do for you?â It was like he was deaf. And I said, âYes, you can restore the whipâ, and he realised I wasnât going to play that game and he went off.â
