Editorial: Prime Minister Andy Burnham must act over ​Labour MP’s ludicrous views on Russia

​Comments by a prominent Labour MP that the threat by Russia has been made up by Nato are not only ludicrous, but dangerous – and should result in her expulsion from the party.

​Diane Abbott’s comments have been criticised by a government minister, who says the United Kingdom stands “wholeheartedly behind Ukraine”.

It is almost unbelievable that a member of the UK’s governing party could make such an absurd and crass statement as Putin’s war machine ravages Ukraine.

Yet it is far from the first deeply controversial comment made by the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP down the years. Only this summer, she was let back into the Labour Party after a year in suspension.

She was first suspended in 2023 over a letter to the Observer newspaper, in which she said Irish, Jewish and Traveller people “undoubtedly experience prejudice” but “they are not all their lives subject to racism”.

She was allowed back just before the 2024 general election, but then said she did not regret the incident and defended her original remarks. The decision to give her the parliamentary whip back was taken by Andy Burnham's Chief Whip, Anneliese Midgley, in July.

Now, Ms Abbott has criticised plans to hike defence spending, by writing on social media site X: “The imminent threat from Russia is a Nato fiction to justify their complete capitulation to Trump’s demands for more military spending. The increase should not go ahead”.

Asked if she thought Ms Abbott should have the Labour whip suspended again over her latest comments, Home Office minister Anna Turley told the BBC that would be a decision for Ms Midgley.

It should be a matter for the Prime Minister – he cannot lead a party with a prominent MP who holds views so utterly detached from reality.