Calling in sick? Now Abbott is ‘too ill to go on air’
Labour accused of hiding her away after yet another disastrous performance
LABOUR was accused of ‘hiding’ Diane Abbott from the public last night, after a series of disastrous media performances saw her pulled from the airwaves.
The party initially claimed the shadow home secretary had cancelled an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour yesterday because she was ill.
But a photo taken by a passer-by showed her at Oxford Circus tube station shortly before she was due on air at nearby Broadcasting House.
And extraordinary leaked emails last night appeared to suggest Miss Abbott was not ill at all. An internet prankster posing as Labour’s director of communications Seumas Milne emailed Miss Abbott to agree details of her illness which could be released to the media to explain her sudden absence.
Asked to ‘add colour’ to the illness story, Miss Abbott apparently replied: ‘I am worried about telling untruths about my health which are easily disproved.’
Labour last night declined to comment on the ‘fake emails’ by the prankster, and refused to say whether Miss Abbott’s apparent replies were genuine.
A party spokesman insisted Miss Abbott was ‘unwell’. Miss Abbott later also skipped an election hustings in London where she was due to debate security and the terror response with Home Secretary Amber Rudd.
The claim that Miss Abbott was sick was further undermined last night when her office said she would be ‘joining Labour Party colleagues to get the vote out on Thursday’.
One Labour insider said she had been ordered off the airwaves following a toe-curling appearance on Sky News on Monday night in which she was unable to answer basic questions on a major counter-terrorism report.
The source described her stumbling performance, which went viral on social media yesterday, as ‘the final straw’. Jeremy Corbyn last night refused to say whether his former lover will be installed as Home Secretary if Labour win tomorrow’s election.
Miss Abbott was reported to have been banned from doing media appearances at the weekend following a series of embarrassing outings. Until Monday night she had given no interviews since Saturday’s London Bridge terror attacks.
But when she did finally make an appearance, she was again unable to answer basic questions relating to her ministerial brief.
Miss Abbott was questioned by Dermot Murnaghan on Sky News about a report last year by former Metropolitan Police Authority chairman Lord Harris on security in London. In a faltering performance punctuated by long pauses, she insisted she had read the docafter ument, but was unable to identify a single one of the 127 recommendations it made.
Asked if she knew what the report suggested, she replied: ‘I know he was talking about preparedness and resilience and I do think we need to act, not necessarily on every specific recommendation…’
Asked again about the specifics she said: ‘I thought, because I know Toby Harris – he’s a longstanding London politician – I thought it was an important review and we should act on it, obviously acting with stakeholders…’
She hit the headlines last month struggling to explain the costings for Labour’s plan to recruit 10,000 more police officers. At one point during the interview with LBC radio she suggested the plan would cost £300,000 – meaning the officers would be paid just £30 each. She then said it would be £80million. The actual forecast cost is £300million.
MPs on both sides say concern about Miss Abbott’s competence have been raised frequently by voters on the doorstep, prompting the Tories to target her in the campaign.
The Tories have mocked her in posters suggesting Labour would install a home secretary who ‘can’t add up’. And Theresa May has repeatedly used media appearances to warn of the dangers of Miss Abbott running the Home Office.
On Monday Miss Abbott denied that Mr Corbyn and the shadow chancellor John McDonnell had ordered her off the airwaves.
Asked if she was considered ‘a bit of a liability’ by Labour’s high command, she replied: ‘I, well I’m here. I’ve just come from doing another media interview, I’m going on to do another. There’s no truth in the idea I’m not in the media.’
Earlier this year Miss Abbott skipped a key Commons vote on Brexit, claiming that she had a migraine.
Critics suggested she had ‘given herself a sick note’ because she could not bring herself to vote in favour of the Bill which kickstarted the process of negotiation with the EU. She had been seen in the Red Lion pub next to Parliament the night before.
‘Worried about telling untruths’