The news that groundbreaking MP Diane Abbott would not be permitted to run for office in the upcoming election has the Labour Party on the verge of a civil war.

The party has denied to confirm that the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington will be barred, as reported by The Times on Tuesday evening.

A spokesperson say they are still awaiting the National Executive Committee decision on the MP and “working to fill seats as quickly as possible in line with emergency selection procedures”.

Her parliamentary colleague Kim Johnson said Ms Abbott - the first black woman elected to Parliament - was “a trailblazer & a hero of our movement”.

Writing on X, she said: “At a time when all our energy should be focussed on throwing the Tories out, this process looks nakedly factional.“Diane should have the whip restored now so she can stand as Labour's candidate in the GE.”

It comes after Sir Keir Starmer said the row over her suspension will be resolved “in due course”, as he faced questions over a report an investigation into her racism comments was completed five months ago.

Labour withdrew the whip from the long-standing MP in April 2023, after she suggested Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experienced prejudice, but not racism.

BBC Newsnight reported Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had written to Ms Abbott in December 2023 to say it had concluded an inquiry into her comments.

This is a matter that will have to be resolved by the National Executive Committee and they’ll do that in due course.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer

Sir Keir on Tuesday again refused to say whether Ms Abbott, Britain’s first black woman MP, would be able to stand for the party in the July 4 General Election.

Asked about the investigation finishing in December, the Labour leader told broadcasters: “The process overall is obviously a little longer than the fact-finding exercise.

“But in the end, this is a matter that will have to be resolved by the National Executive Committee and they’ll do that in due course.”

He added the NEC “will come to a decision in due course”.

Sir Keir has previously said he could not get involved in the case, which would be resolved by June 4, when the final list of candidates is decided.

BBC Newsnight said the NEC issued her with a “formal warning” for “engaging in conduct that was, in the opinion of the NEC, prejudicial and grossly detrimental to the Labour Party”.

Ms Abbott was expected to take part in an online e-learning module, which she completed in February, something that Labour’s chief whip allegedly acknowledged by email.

Campaign group Momentum has said the Labour whip “should already have been restored”.

Ms Abbott was an independent MP when Parliament was prorogued on Friday, May 24, ahead of the General Election on July 4.

The first step to making amends is to restore the whip and let Diane run as the Labour candidate, as local members wish

Momentum spokesman

A Momentum spokesman said: “This is outrageous news which confirms that the (Keir) Starmer leadership is trying to force Britain’s first black woman MP out of Parliament.

“For months, we have been told by Keir Starmer that the process is independent and it’s nothing to do with him.

“Today’s revelation confirms this is another brazen lie from Keir Starmer – the investigation was concluded months ago, Diane remains a Labour member and the whip should already have been restored as a result.

“Starmer’s conduct has already been insulting and demeaning to a woman he rightly called a ‘trailblazer’ – the first step to making amends is to restore the whip and let Diane run as the Labour candidate, as local members wish.”

Ms Abbott, who has been an MP since 1987, has said the process “has EVERYTHING to do with” Sir Keir.

The veteran MP was suspended after she responded to an Observer article headlined: “Racism in Britain is not a black and white issue. It’s far more complicated.”

She wrote in a letter to the title: “It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism. In pre-civil rights America, Irish people, Jewish people and Travellers were not required to sit at the back of the bus.”

Ms Abbott later said she wished to “wholly and unreservedly withdraw my remarks and disassociate myself from them”.

The moves comes as former Labour leader - and a close ally of Ms Abbott on the left of the party - Jeremy Corbyn was expelled from the party after announcing he is standing as an independent candidate in the election.

Corbyn, who was blocked from standing again for his old party, will seek election in the Islington North constituency he has represented for 40 years.

Sir Keir Starmer said his predecessor’s move was “a matter for Jeremy”, as he defended his decision to ban Mr Corbyn from standing for Labour as part of his efforts to “tear antisemitism out of our party by the roots”.

Mr Corbyn has been suspended by Labour since 2020 after he refused to fully accept the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s findings that the party broke equality law when he was in charge and said antisemitism had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons”.