Diane tries to speak 40 times... but Hoyle ignores her

COMMOnS Speaker Sir Lindsay hoyle came under further pressure from MPs last night after failing to let Diane abbott speak during Prime Minister’s Questions.

The backbencher stood up more than 40 times to catch the Speaker’s eye throughout the session – most likely wanting to address racist comments reportedly made about her by Tory donor Frank hester. But Sir Lindsay did not call on the veteran MP.

Last night she accused both main parties of failing to deal with racism.

She said: ‘The Tory reluctance to call out racism and sexism is shocking, but hardly surprising. But the position of the current leadership of the Labour Party is disappointing – it seemed equally reluctant at the outset to call out either racism or sexism. in fact, a number of Labour statements were issued, and interviews given where neither word was mentioned.’

Writing in The independent, the former Labour MP condemned the ‘shocking levels of racism and sexism from within the Labour Party, again much of it directed against me personally’. Groans were heard around the

‘It’s bound to be horrific for her’

Commons chamber at the end of the session yesterday as MPs looked confused as to why they had not heard from Ms abbott.

‘i don’t know whose interests the Speaker thinks he is serving,’ Miss abbott said afterwards. ‘But it is not the interests of the Commons or democracy.’ Labour is under pressure to explain why it has taken so long to make a decision about whether it would restore the whip to Ms abbott.

Party officials said they could not provide an update to the independent inquiry into her conduct last year. Ms abbott had the party whip taken away last april after she suggested Jewish, irish and Traveller people had never been ‘subject to racism’.

Yesterday Ms abbott said she asked Sir Keir Starmer to restore the whip when he asked if there was ‘anything [he] can do’ to help – but did not get a definitive response.

Mother of the house harriet harman told Radio 4’s The World Tonight: ‘it’s bound to be absolutely horrific for her – we need to do something about it.’ Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said he would not speculate on the outcome of the independent investigation into Ms abbott. a spokesman for Sir Lindsay said: ‘This week – as is often the case – there was not enough time to call all Members who wanted to ask a question.’

Last month the Speaker came under fire for allowing the Labour Party to amend an SnP motion on Gaza which – in its original form – would have probably seen dozens of Sir Keir’s MPs defying the Labour whip.