Labour leader says Diane Abbott as a ‘trailblazer’ who paved the way for many others
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Samuel Kasumu, who worked as a special adviser for Boris Johnson in Downing Street on civil society and communities, gave a moving interview about the Frank Hester comments on the Today programme this morning. He said that many people might not appreciate quite how important a figure Diane Abbott was to black Britons, and quite what a significant role she played in “our own island story”. Here are the main quotes from his interview.
Kasumu said that many black Britons, regardless of their party politics, felt personally offended by comments of this kind about Abbott. He explained:
I think it’s important to note that as a black Brit Diane Abbott is somebody that is very historically significant. She was first elected in 1987, the year that I was born.
I wouldn’t have been a special advisor in Downing Street if it wasn’t for Diane Abbott. Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Kwasi Kwarteng, David Lammy – they would not be where they are today if it wasn’t for Diane Abbott. And so it’s very important to note that for many black Brits, every time Diane is attacked, we do feel it …
When I told her about the words that were said, and I saw the look on her face, I understood that I had a moral obligation to speak up and speak out and say that actually words like this matter, and they’re totally unacceptable.
Kasumu said Hester should accept that “words do matter’. When it was put to him that Hester claims his criticism of Abbott was not racist, Kasumu replied:
In recent times we have had two members of parliament, distinguished members of parliament, killed, and so words do matter. And somebody in a position like Mr Hester must recognise that, whether you’re in a pub, or you’re at work, or you’re involved in public life, his statements were completely abhorrent and unacceptable.
Kasumu said that it was not enough for Hester to apologise. He said:
Somone of his standing must do more. They must be part of the solution around how we bring our country together and we heal divisions and we tackle racism and misogyny etc …
He has to be someone that is seen to be a leader that has learned from his mistake. But also somebody that is proactively investing in making sure that our country can continue to prosper and continue to get to a point where it’s more united.
Kasumu declined to back calls for the Conservative party to return the £10m it received from Hester, saying he regarded this issue as “inconsequential”. Asked if the money should be returned, he replied:
For me that is inconsequential. Whey theytook the money, it was not because of comments that he may or may not have made many years ago. I don’t want us to be distracted by what should or shouldn’t happen to the money. We must focus on making sure that we tackle the racism that still exists in our country.
He praised Rishi Sunak for his “excellent” speech on extremism two weeks ago, but said “far more needs to be done”.
The comments about Diane Abbott are just abhorrent.
And Diane has been a trailblazer, she has paved the way for others, she’s probably faced more abuse than any other politician over the years on a sustained basis.
