Election '87 - Diane Abbott Makes History as UK's First Black Female MP (1987)

On 11 June 1987, Diane Julie Abbott became the UK's first Black woman to be elected as a Member of Parliament. ITN's cameras in Hackney Town Hall filmed as Ms Abbott thanked her campaign staff and supporters and promised to defend the interests of her constituents, calling her election a "victory for socialism". The following morning, outside the Houses of Parliament, the 33 year-old MP was interviewed alongside Paddy Ashdown MP of the SDP–Liberal Alliance. She acknowledged the symbolic value of her election and reiterated her commitment to defending her constituents against what she called the "horrific things" facing them under Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Diane Abbott has been re-admitted to the Labour Party, after being suspended last year for saying that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people do not face racism "all their lives". It remains unclear whether the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington will be able to run as a Labour candidate in the upcoming General Election. Abbott herself said she has been barred from doing so, while this afternoon Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said no decision had yet been taken on the matter.

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