Virginia Blackburn

ONE of the best moments in the recent series of Line Of Duty was when the corrupt policewoman Roz Huntley turned the tables on the magnificent Ted Hastings and accused him of sexism. We knew she was lying, he knew she was lying but she was playing a trump card, one that can be very difficult to disprove. This resounded with women in particular. Most of us are extremely careful not to use the s-word because we don’t want to be accused of hiding incompetence behind our gender. So what to make of the furore surrounding Diane Abbott?

Diane has lurched from one slow-motion car crash to another over the past few weeks. There was a disastrous interview on the Andrew Marr show, in which she compared her views on terrorists to changing her hairstyle, a terrible showing on LBC when she appeared to suggest new recruits to the police force would be paid £30 a year and on Monday night her worst performance to date, which is saying something, when – shadow home secretary, remember – she hadn’t a clue what Dermot Murnaghan was talking about when he brought up a counter-terrorism review.

On Tuesday matters turned to farce when, with less than half an hour to go, the BBC announced she would not be appearing on a very well flagged up debate on Woman’s Hour because she was “ill”. It was a matter of minutes before a picture emerged of her walking through Oxford Street tube station, which is near Broadcasting House, clearly on her way to the programme. By this time even Corbyn realised what a liability she was and now he has got rid of her altogether.

And how have her defenders dealt with this? It’s sexism, apparently, and racism, not total incompetence and a lack of fitness for high office. The hard-Left former BBC journalist Paul Mason accused Theresa May of “dog whistle racism”, while Lily Allen has spoken of the “sexism and racism” Diane has to deal with. As a