Diane Abbott still weighing up whether to stand for Labour, ally says, amid peerage offer claim

Diane Abbott is still weighing up whether to stand as a Labour MP, a close ally has indicated, as Labour denied offering her a peerage to leave the Commons.

Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti said she had advised her friend to “take some time to consider what she wants to do”.

She also hit out at what she denounced as a “sordid week of unauthorised anonymous briefings by overgrown schoolboys in suits with their feet on the table” who had watched “too much West Wing”.

On Friday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Ms Abbot was “free” to stand as a Labour candidate in the general election, after days of back and forth about whether the veteran MP would be blocked.

He also praised her as a “trailblazer”, saying that after she was elected the first black woman MP in the UK, she “carved a path for other people”.

The dramatic U-turn came after Sir Keir’s deputy Angela Rayner said Ms Abbott should be allowed to stand in the Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat she has represented since 1987– in a break with her party leader.

But Baroness Chakrabarti hit out at anonymous briefings earlier in the week that the London MP would be barred from standing, despite getting the party whip back.

Ms Abbott had been suspended after she suggested Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experience prejudice but not racism.

Baroness Chakrabarti told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg it had been a “sometimes sordid week of unauthorised anonymous briefings by overgrown schoolboys in suits with their feet on the table, maybe watching too much West Wing but not taking on its more progressive values”.

The baroness added that “it’s been pretty appalling, trying to bully someone of her stature”, and “it’s not good for Keir Starmer’s leadership, it’s not good for the Labour Party, and it hasn’t been very nice for Diane and for common decency”.

She said she had advised her to “take some time to consider what she wants to do”.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said she would “obviously support” Ms Abbott if she decided to stand for Labour, as she denied peerages had been offered during an attempted purge of left-wing MPs.

No party can “make those sorts of commitments” and promise peerages, Ms Cooper said.

A number of former Labour MPs, including Ms Abbott, have been offered peerages to quit and open up seats for allies of Sir Keir, according to reports in The Sunday Times.

Ms Cooper told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News: “There’s a whole process with the independent committee that will vet nominations, there have to be processes in terms of the numbers of nominations, designated by the prime minister and so on.

“So, no party can do that or make those sorts of commitments.”

She added: “It has to be Diane’s decision. I did listen to what Shami said. In fact, Shami, who’s very close to Diane, is saying this is for Diane to decide and I completely support that.

“Diane has been – continues to be – a really important figure in the Labour Party, not just because of the trailblazing people have talked about but also some of the things she did. For example, she was crucial to exposing the Windrush scandal and holding the government to account on that.”