DIANE ABBOTT was right again to point out the inhumanity of Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson’s statement that migrants should “f**k off back to France.”

Conservative’s attempts to claim the legendary former Labour MP was “exploiting the tragedy” of 41 migrant deaths off Italy is pure gaslighting.

Gaslighting is what Tories do best; we’ve seen it over and again – from Lord Tony Sewell’s report telling us that institutional racism doesn’t exist, to Tory MPs trying to close race equality thinktank the Runnymede Trust for pointing out how wrongheaded the Sewell report was.

History will judge Abbott well for standing up for migrants who are dying in unprecedented numbers at sea, as a direct consequence of Fortress Europe and Fortress UK’s denial of safe routes to claim asylum.

History will judge the Conservatives less well for their efforts to deflect blame away from their own policies at the cost of human lives in the English Channel, and support for barriers in Europe that result in many hundreds of deaths in the perilous journey from Africa to Europe.

What we saw from Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith, speaking on behalf of his party in his attack on Abbott, was confected outrage.

His attempt to turn Abbott into the villain, rather than his own deputy chairman Lee Anderson for echoing the age-old far right demand that foreigners “f**k off back home”, was classic gaslighting in the purest sense.

And the national media coverage giving weight to the Tories stance – with little if any genuine consideration to the point Abbott was making – was journalism telling on itself; a reflection of the instinctive institutional racism of the media.

Consistency

Abbott has defended migrants and asylum seekers for as long as she’s been in politics, which is a very long time. Her consistency is matched by her forthrightness in calling out the attitudes that underpin anti-foreigner sentiment whichever side of the political spectrum that shows itself from.

In that sense, Abbott’s anti-racism is a-political; informed by a combination of her Socialism and acute sense of justice. She has frequently called out her own party for punitive and scapegoating policies in this area. And she does likewise for the Tories. Quite simply she calls it as she sees it.

The Tories know this. They know that Anderson’s hateful rhetoric, and the position he holds as a result of it, is nothing but a grubby political tactic to appeal to the worst instincts of the public on asylum and immigration.

Meanwhile, Labour knows that Abbott is a threat to their own triangulation on the same issue, as they effectively echo everything the Tories do on the issue – no matter how bad that is – but attempt to polish the turd with a ‘progressive’ shine.

History will judge Abbott well for standing up for migrants who are dying in unprecedented numbers at sea, as a direct consequence of Fortress Europe

Lester Holloway

Witness Labour’s Stephen Kinnock in the last few days declaring that Labour in government would continue to use barges to house asylum seekers, despite trade union fears that such accommodation is a potential death trap in the case of a fire.

Kinnock varnishes the position by going on to say that Labour wishes they didn’t have to say this, and the barges are a consequence of the Tories failure to manage the system. In other words, Labour would do what the Tories do, but just do it more efficiently.

This is why Abbott is unpopular amongst the elite on both sides of the House; she is the voice of humanitarian principle, and an embodiment of the good conscience of us as human beings who value life and reject the dehumanisation of those who seek a better life or are fleeing persecution.

Consequences

If I have any criticism of Abbott it is that she should not have deleted her tweet (or X). It makes the point perfectly that words have consequences and that the rhetoric of Anderson and all of his ilk contribute directly to the deaths of men, women and children in the sea.

Hers is a powerful critique that needs to be heard. We are not hearing it from any major political party at the moment, so Abbott’s voice needs to be elevated at this time. Not least because the general public deserves to hear the case for humanity, and the case against inhumanity.

As a result, her tweet should not count against her in her bid to rejoin the parliamentary Labour Party and run again as Labour at the next general election.

Quite simply, if Labour loses Abbott it has lost an important voice that seeks to pull the party back towards the compassionate internationalism which so many ordinary members believe in. 

Lester Holloway is the editor of The Voice