Diane Abbott reveals levels of horrific racist abuse targetted at her and admits staff don’t want her to go out alone after Jo Cox’s murder
The Shadow Home Secretary said she would reconsider becoming an MP today if she'd known the abuse she would receive
DIANE Abbott has opened up about some of the horrific abuse she has received - including people saying she should be raped and hanged.
The Shadow Home Secretary said she would reconsider becoming an MP today if she'd known the abuse she would receive.
Speaking to Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday this morning, Ms Abbott revealed some of the appalling comments she has received.
The Labour frontbencher said the hate had reached a peak in recent weeks.
She said: "What we were getting, and have had for some time, is almost daily abuse, being called a bitch, a nigger, rape threats, people saying I should be hanged."
Ms Abbott added: "I thought to myself had I known it would be like this 30 years on from being elected, I’d have thought twice for running for Parliament at all.";
And after the Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered in the streets in her constituency last year, Ms Abbott admitted that her staff feared for her safety.
She said: "So since then I’ve been trying to sort out the security on my home, and my staff try not to let me walk around Hackney on my own. It’s a horrible, horrible world out there."
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The Shadow Home Secretary slammed social media giants Facebook and Twitter for not doing more to punish abusive users, and also said there could be a case for a parliamentary inquiry into the matter.
And she admitted that she had a "wobble" a few years ago about whether she wanted to continue to be an MP - but was talked out of quitting by fellow Labour MP Keith Vaz.
Ms Abbott also hit out at the Mail on Sunday who published a story about David Davis saying he wouldn't hug her because he wasn't "blind".
"The fact that the Mail on Sunday made it a front page story and there were two pages inside about it… It was all about denigrating and belittling me," she said.
"This is my point, it’s not just the things that you hear on the internet, it’s also the way the media acts as an echo chamber for some of it,” she said.
She refused to comment on Mr Davis' remarks.