Brexit amid claims of No10 rift

The Andrew Marr show where she said, ‘I had an afro. It was 34 years ago’, inset

She told the BBC’S Andrew Marr Show: “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.”

She defended voting against “counter-productive” counter terror legislation, which was also opposed by many senior Conservatives.

Asked about her views on the IRA in the 1980s, she said: “It was 34 years ago, I had a rather splendid ‘afro’ at the time. I don’t have the same hairstyle, I don’t have the same views.

“It was 34 years on. The hairstyle is gone, some of the views are gone.”

Ms Abbott insisted that she had worked as a graduate trainee in the Home Office so she was qualified to take on the role, which would make her the first black person to hold one of the most senior ministerial positions.

She also said her experience working in diverse communities would help her in the role.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd shot back at Ms Abbott’s comments, telling the Andrew Marr Show: “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.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, asked if Ms Abbott’s hairstyle comments trivialised the IRA, told ITV’S Peston On Sunday: “Diane’s hairstyle is a matter for Diane.”

Mr Corbyn added: “We learnt, all of us, a lot from the whole experience of Northern Ireland.”

It came as reports claimed Mr Corbyn took part in a 2014 wreath-laying ceremony in Paris for one of the terrorists behind the attack on the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

The Labour leader was also reported to have said western “jingoism” was behind the killing of aid worker Alan Henning by the Islamic State, the day after a video of his murder was released in 2014.