Abbott: My views on IRA have changed ... just like my afro
DIANE Abbott tried to explain away her past support for the IRA yesterday by saying that her views had changed like her hairstyle.
The Left-winger hoping to become home secretary after the election admitted voicing support for the republican terrorists in the 1980s but, noting that she used to have a ‘splendid afro’, she said: ‘The hairstyle has gone, the views have gone.’
The remark came in yet another car crash TV interview in which she refused four times to apologise for calling for the IRA to defeat the British state, confessed she once called for the abolition of MI5 and acknowledged voting against a ban on Al Qaeda.
On the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday, she was questioned about a 1984 interview in which she declared that ‘Ireland is our struggle – every defeat of the British state is a victory for all of us’.
She said: ‘That particular quote you’re referring to comes from a now-defunct Left newspaper. It was 34 years ago, I had a rather splendid afro at the time – I don’t have the same hairstyle and I don’t have the same views, and it’s 34 years on. The hairstyle has gone and some of the views have gone.’
Asked if she was sorry for her remarks, Miss Abbott, who was a councillor in London at the time, replied: ‘The hairstyle has gone, the views have gone. We’ve all moved on in 34 years.’
Pushed again by Marr on whether she was wrong to blame violence in Northern Ireland on the British presence, she said: ‘It’s 34 years ago. I’ve moved on.’
Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who was also on the show, appeared incredulous at one point as she looked askance at the Labour politician.
‘What I would say to Diane Abbott is I have changed my hairstyle a few times in 34 years as well, but I have not changed my view about how we keep the British public safe,’ Miss Rudd said.
Last night Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: ‘Families across the country watching Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn account for a lifetime of sympathy for terror-
ism will be appalled.’ Campaigners also expressed disgust.
Kenny Donaldson, of Innocent Victims United, said Miss abbott’s remarks were ‘nothing short of crass and disgraceful’.
he added: ‘ how does Diane abbott believe these comments are heard by the innocent victims and survivors of terrorism?
‘she must account for and make apology for these comments and she must state very clearly how her views on the Provisional Ira have changed.’
ex-Labour member Lord sugar tweeted: ‘this woman would be Jeremy Corbyn’s sidekick. Listen to her garbage. Would you be safe with her as home secretary?’
Miss abbott, who became an MP in 1987, was also confronted yesterday with the fact that she backed the abolition of MI5 in 1989.
she admitted signing a parliamentary motion calling for the closure of the intelligence service, but said: ‘at that time I and a lot of people felt MI5 needed reforming. It has since been reformed and of course I would not call for its abolition now.’
Miss abbott was also challenged on how, shortly before 9/11, she had voted against proscribing al Qaeda as an organisation.
she told Marr: ‘What the legislation called for was a whole list of organisations, some of which some people would argue were not terrorist organisations but dissident organisations.’
the presenter said: ‘this is a group of really dangerous organisations, many of whom have killed a lot of people.’
But Miss abbott insisted the list of organisations targeted by the law included groups ‘I deemed to be dissidents rather than terror organisations’.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, asked if Miss abbott’s hairstyle comments trivialised the Ira, told ItV’s Peston on sunday: ‘Diane’s hairstyle is a matter for Diane.’