Latest news with #JamesNaughtie
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
The BBC has questions to answer about the Diane Abbott affair
Why is it that whenever Diana Abbott is accused of anti-Semitism, it's often as a result of an interview she's given to the BBC? The veteran MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington was once again suspended by the Labour Party this week after saying she did not regret writing a 118 word letter to The Observer in 2023 which argued that 'Irish, Jewish and Traveller people (and redheads)… undoubtedly experience prejudice… but they are not all their lives subject to racism '. At the time, she withdrew the remarks and apologised and was suspended before being reinstated at the last minute to stand as Labour's candidate in last year's general election. Now she's changed her tune, telling Radio 4's Reflections programme: 'Clearly there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism,' suggesting that a black person's skin colour is visibly notable, whereas being Jewish is not. First question: this BBC interview was pre-recorded in May – so why is the broadcaster only now asking whether her remarks are inflammatory? Did it not realise that at the time, too busy, perhaps, broadcasting 'inaccurate' Gaza documentaries and preparing Glastonbury coverage that would see Bob Vylan chant: 'Death, death to the IDF?' Secondly, why didn't the interviewer, James Naughtie, challenge Abbott with her own words, on the BBC's Question Time on April 26, 2018, when she suggested that the Haredi Jews in her constituency were a target for anti-Semitism 'because of the costumes they wear'? She cannot have it both ways. She cannot say that Jews don't suffer the same racism as black people because they're white (even though a lot of Jews have dark skin) and then claim that they are the victims of racism because they are so obviously Jewish. I wonder if she would refer to Muslims who wear traditional clothing – or African or Caribbean people – as wearing 'costumes' and therefore open to abuse? Abbott claims it is 'obvious this Labour leadership wants me out'. On the basis of this evidence, who can blame them?
BBC News
5 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Labour MP Diane Abbott stands by racism comments
Diane Abbott says she stands by comments she made about racism that led to a year-long suspension from the Labour a wide-ranging interview with James Naughtie for BBC Radio 4's Reflections, the veteran Labour MP was asked about a letter she sent to the Observer in April 2023 in which she suggested people of colour experienced racism in a different way to Jewish people, Irish people and she withdrew her comments at the time and apologised, saying "errors" arose in a draft that was sent, she was suspended from the party and only re-admitted just before last year's general by the BBC's James Naughtie if she looked back on the incident with regret, she said: "No, not at all." She added: "Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don't know. "You don't know unless you stop to speak to them or you're in a meeting with them. "But if you see a black person walking down the street, you see straight away that they're black. They are different types of racism."Asked if she believed she had done anything wrong or had said something in her Observer letter that she did not believe in, she said: "I just think that it's silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism. "I just... I don't know why people would say that."Naughtie asked the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP if she would condemn antisemitic behaviour in the same way she would racist behaviour against someone because of the colour of the replied: "Well of course, and I do get a bit weary of people trying to pin the antisemitic label on me because I've spent a lifetime fighting racism of all kinds and in particular fighting antisemitism, partly because of the nature of my constituency."The exchanges came as Abbott discussed her life and career in politics, including her own experiences of racism, as Britain's first black woman MP and her years of campaigning with other radical left wingers including Jeremy entered Parliament in 1987 and is now the Mother of the House, the honorary title given to the longest-serving female MP. In her 2023 letter to the Observer, Abbott wrote that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people "undoubtedly experience prejudice" that is "similar to racism".She added: "It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism."Abbott was quick to withdraw the remarks, which were heavily criticised by Jewish and Traveller groups, and apologised "for any anguish caused".But she was suspended by the Labour Party pending the outcome of an investigation, with leader Sir Keir Starmer saying her letter "was antisemitic" and should be was readmitted to the Labour Party in May 2024, just in time for her stand as a Labour candidate in the general election, even though an internal inquiry into her conduct had concluded four months former shadow home secretary was given a "formal warning" for engaging in conduct that was in the opinion of Labour's National Executive Committee "prejudicial and grossly detrimental to the Labour Party". She also completed an online antismetism awareness by Naughtie if she had been "hung out to dry" by the Labour leadership, who had continued to say she was subject to a disciplinary process after it had finished, she said: "In the end, Keir Starmer had to restore the whip to me. "I got tremendous support locally. We had a big rally on the steps of Hackney Town Hall. And in the end Keir Starmer and the people around him had to back off because of the support I had from the community."She said she was sure that the Labour leadership had been "trying to get me out" and there were "hints" that she would be offered a seat in the House of Lords if she stepped down as an MP. "I was never going to that. And I'm a Labour MP today, and I'm grateful," she is on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 17 July at 09:30 here on BBC Sounds.
BBC News
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bookclub Joanne Harris: Chocolat
Led by presenter James Naughtie, the writer Joanne Harris takes questions from a BBC Bookclub audience on her best-selling novel, Chocolat. Published in 1999, the book follows the character of Vianne Rocher, a chocolate-maker and sometime witch, who arrives in the village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes with her six-year-old daughter Anouk at the beginning of Lent and opens a chocolaterie opposite the church. Francis Reynaud, the local priest, disapproves of her instantly and Vianne's arrival polarizes the villagers. The book sold over a million copies in the UK and won the Creative Freedom and Whitaker Gold awards. It was later turned into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. Producer: Dom Howell Editor: Gillian Wheelan This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
