Diane Abbott, the first elected Black woman and the longest-serving Black member of Parliament, blasted United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for denying her the ability to ask questions during a debate over racist remarks that were allegedly made about her.
The Guardian reported on Monday that Frank Hester, a conservative donor to the British Conservative Party, also known as the Tory Party, allegedly said that Abbott “should be shot” and that “you just want to hate all Black women because she’s there,” reportedly referencing Abbott during a meeting with his colleagues in 2019.
During a weekly session called “Prime Minister’s Questions,” while seated in the House of Commons chamber, Abbott was denied the opportunity to ask the prime minister a question regarding Hester’s comments, even after standing up at least 46 times to get the speaker’s attention. A spokesperson for the prime minister said Sunak ran out of time to answer questions and that “the Speaker must select MPs from either side of the House on an alternating basis for fairness.”
Shortly after the ordeal, Abbott took to X and wrote, “I don’t know whose interests the Speaker thinks he is serving. But it is not the interests of the Commons or democracy.”
In November 2023, Hester gifted Sunak with a helicopter for a political visit valued at £15,000. However, in light of Hester’s controversial remarks, Sunak has faced demands to return the gift. Sunak rejected those calls. The U.K.’s first Indian prime minister called Hester’s comments “racist” and said he had accepted Hester’s apology.
Shortly after news broke about the controversial remarks Hester made towards Abbott, she released a public statement that read, “To hear someone talking like this is worrying.” She continued, “The fact that two MPs have been murdered in recent years makes talk like this all the more alarming.”
Abbott asked Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer…
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