Shadow home secretary made history yesterday by becoming the first black politician to lead a political party at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Abbott’s landmark achievement saw her face foreign secretary Dominic Raab who was standing in for prime minister Boris Johnson who missed the session in order to give his speech at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.

During her debut appearance Abbott raised the issue of abuse aimed at MPs, the anti-abortion posters that had appeared in her Labour colleague Stella Creasy’s constituency and the plight of workers at Thomas Cook.

She accused  the government of ‘letting women down’ noting that another Labour colleague, Paula Sherriff ,had received four more death threats since challenging the prime minister’s inflammatory language in the Commons last week.

Announcing that Abbott would take his place for this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn highlighted the fact that her appearance would take place during Black History Month.

Earlier this week he tweeted: “This #BlackHistoryMonth we’re inspired by the struggles of black campaigners, including the first black MPs elected in 1987.

Tomorrow one of those pioneering MPs, a child of the Windrush Generation, Diane Abbott, will be the first black person to represent their party at #PMQs.”