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The moment Miliband phoned race row MP Diane Abbott to say: apologise or I'll sack you
- Abbott walks off mid-interview to take phone call in which she received 'severe dressing down from Ed Miliband'
- Shadow minister claims comments were 'taken out of context' and remains defiant until Labour leader steps in - only then does she delete the tweet
- Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi calls for Abbott to quit or Ed Miliband to sack her
- George Galloway wades into the row to DEFEND the Labour politician
- Nick Clegg says Abbott's comments were 'stupid and crass'
- Labour spokesman says party disagrees with the tweets
- Abbott apologises 'for any offence caused'
The Shadow Minister for Public Health dived disastrously into the Stephen Lawrence debate – claiming that ‘white people love playing divide and rule’ with the black population.
Miss Abbott, the first black woman MP, was later forced to apologise for the comments posted on Twitter.
But Miss Abbott hit back saying criticism of black leaders was effectively playing into the hands of whites.
‘I understand the cultural point you are making,’ she told Miss Adewunmi.
‘But you are playing into a “divide and rule” agenda. White people love playing “divide and rule”. We should not play their game.’
She then accused white people of peddling a ‘tactic as old as colonialism’.
Miss Abbott immediately faced calls to resign. Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi said if a white politician had made similar comments about blacks they would have had to quit.
‘It is outrageous,’ he said. ‘If this was reversed I guarantee you a white politician would have to resign their frontbench position or be sacked and I think she should do the honourable thing and go. To hold views that white people play games of divide and rule is blatantly racist.’
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg dismissed her comments as ‘stupid and crass generalisation’.
But Miss Abbott, who has a history of making racially-charged statements, initially refused to back down. In a Twitter message and a brief TV interview she insisted her words had been ‘taken out of context’. The unrepentant MP even sought to claim she was talking about the ‘nature of 19th century European colonialism’ rather than modern Britain.
But while she was on camera, she took a phone call from Mr Miliband, who told her she had let down both him and the Labour Party and he demanded that she make a public apology.
Minutes later she issued a new statement saying: ‘I understand people have interpreted my comments as making generalisations about white people. I do not believe in doing that. I apologise for any offence caused.’
A Labour Party spokesman said it was ‘wrong’ to make such ‘sweeping generalisations’ while Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna said: ‘The contents of the tweet were clearly unacceptable’
A senior Labour source said: ‘If we thought she really believed what was in the tweet, she would be off the front bench, but she doesn’t and she has apologised. Ed made it clear that unless she apologised she would have been fired.’
Marc Wadsworth, an executive at black newspaper The Voice said: ‘She could have phrased what she said better by saying that some white leaders have played divide and rule.’
Miss Abbott’s views on race issues have upset the Labour leadership before. In 1988 she told a black studies conference in Philadelphia that ‘the British invented racism’.
And in 1996 she attacked her local hospital for employing ‘blonde, blue-eyed’ Finnish nurses.
The daughter of West Indian migrants, she escaped her working class roots through an education at Harrow County Grammar School, where she acted in a play opposite Michael Portillo, the ex-Tory MP who ended up as her sparring partner on BBC1’s This Week show.
HOW THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME ABBOTT HAS LANDED IN HOT WATER
Today's Twitter storm is the latest in a number of blunders made by the MP who positioned herself as an anti-racism campaigner, once claiming that Britain had 'invented racism'.
In 2010 Abbott called David Cameron and Nick Clegg 'two posh white boys',
sparking claims of racism on the BBC's internet message boards. One wrote: 'I am sure that if a posh white person sat on this programme and mentioned a colour comment like that, there would be uproar.'
The same year, she was criticised over remarks she made on BBC's This Week over her decision to send her son James to a private school. Andrew Neil quoted her saying that 'West Indian mums will go to the wall for their children'.
Mr Neil responded by asking: 'So black mums love their kids more than white mums, do they?'
Furious Abbott said: 'I have said everything I am going to say about where I send my son to school.'
Previously, Abbott face accusations of racism suggesting that the 'blonde blue-eyed Finnish girls' working in her local hospital were unsuitable as nurses because they had 'never met a black person before'.
Abbott has positioned herself as an anti-racism campaigner and once claimed that Britain had 'invented racism'.
The latest row follows a previous race controversy on the same show, fronted by Andrew Neil, last year, after he compared Abbott to a chocolate HobNob biscuit.
