Starmer is haunted by Mandelson and can’t do the job – Diane Abbott

"Why didn’t the Prime Minister ask?": Diane Abbott's question to Starmer lingers unanswered

In the cavernous theatre of the House of Commons on 20 April 2026, amid two and a half hours of choreographed indignation and procedural deflection, a single sentence cut through the fog: Why didn’t the Prime Minister ask? Diane Abbott’s question hung in the chamber for a moment and was then, with practised establishment efficiency, allowed to evaporate. The press and broadcasters moved on. By the evening bulletins, the discourse had reverted to…

Starmer is haunted by Mandelson and can’t do the job – Diane Abbott

We spoke to Parliament's longest-serving female MP, Diane Abbott - who now sits as an Independent MP after being suspended from the Labour Party last year.