Diane announces she will stand for Labour Leadership contest

20 May 2010

Diane Abbott MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington has announced today she will stand as a candidate in the Labour Leadership contest.

Diane hopes to provide a more diverse option on the ballot and a platform for a full debate about the future of the Labour Party.

The longest serving MP of all the candidates, Diane has long championed civil liberties and has called for an end to immigration detention centres, ID cards and the retention of innocent people’s DNA on a government database.

Diane said:

“I am not just another man in a suit. There’s not a lot of difference between the candidates so far. I am standing because I represent ‘real choice’, not a return to the Blair/Brown politics of the past 13 years. I voted against the Iraq war which is the single biggest source of disillusionment with Labour. And I do not believe that we lost the election because of immigration, as some of my rivals seem to be suggesting. I am a truly independent candidate who will create real change out of the ashes of New Labour, and reclaim the true identity of the Labour Party. I want to provide a platform for debate about who should be the next leader, and that debate would not be complete without a candidate, like myself, who represents a more diverse choice.”



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