Minister denies Labour wants Diane Abbott out of party

A government minister has rejected Diane Abbott’s claim the Labour leadership wants her out of the party after she was suspended for a second time over comments about racism.

Treasury Minister James Murray said it was “absolutely not the case” Number 10 wanted to remove Abbott.

The veteran left-wing MP was suspended this week after saying she did not look back with regret “at all” at the events around her first suspension in 2023.

That suspension was prompted by a letter to a newspaper in which she said people of colour experienced racism “all their lives”, which was different from the “prejudice” experienced by Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers.

She apologised for those remarks at the time after criticism from Jewish and Traveller…