British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is once again responding to internal opposition within the Labour Party with force, echoing the tactics his government has used to try to suppress Palestine solidarity groups across the UK. After dozens of MPs rebelled against a draconian welfare bill that would have devastated the lives of thousands of disabled people (the bill’s gutted version still entails significant cuts to welfare), Starmer responded by suspending four of them: Rachael Maskell, Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchcliff, and Neil Duncan-Jordan. He then took things a step further by re-suspending veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott.

Abbott had previously been suspended over trumped-up allegations of racism following comments made in an interview, allegations that are hard to reconcile with her decades-long record of fighting racism and discrimination in her constituency. She was eventually allowed to run on the Labour ticket just ahead of the 2024 general election, but has remained a vocal critic of the Starmer cabinet’s austerity agenda and its enthusiastic turn toward militarization. Reacting to her latest suspension, Abbott remarked that the Labour leadership obviously wants her out – as it did many other progressive members when 2024 election tickets were being drafted, one might add.