LONDON: Veteran politician Diane Abbott, the first black woman to become a British MP and a left-wing figurehead, was on Thursday again suspended from the Labour Party after repeating contentious comments about racism.

The move came after Abbott told the BBC that it was `silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism`.

`Diane Abbott has been administratively suspended from the Labour Party, pending an investigation. We cannot comment further while this investigation is ongoing,` a Labour party spokesperson said.

Abbott, 71, who ran to be party leader in 2010, is a highly respected figure within Labour ranks.

But she caused an outcry in 2023, when in a letter to the weekly Observer newspaper she wrote that Irish, Jewish people and travellers `undoubtedly experience prejudice` but that it is merely `similar to racism`.-AFP