Diane Abbott’s staff members past and present share the racism they see on a daily basis The e-mail sent to Diane Abbott’s office had the subject title ‘an issue of extreme importance’. Inside was the n-word, repeated […]

The e-mail sent to Diane Abbott’s office had the subject title ‘an issue of extreme importance’.

Inside was the n-word, repeated 228 times.

It was sent to the MP’s office less than 24 hours after she stood up in parliament and spoke out against such abuse.

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This e-mail is far from an anomaly. It is what greets Abbott and her staff every day.

Warning: there is offensive language in this article

The video above of Ms Abbott, the first black female MP, recounting examples of the “mindless abuse” she received, went viral. Reeling off some of the ways she’s been targeted, she told Westminster Hall:

“There was an EDL affiliated Twitter account #burndianeabbott. I’ve had rape threats, described as a ‘pathetic, useless, fat, black piece of shit’, ‘ugly fat black bitch’, and ‘nigger’. Nigger over and over again. One of my members of staff said, that when people ask her ‘what is the most surprising thing about coming to work for me’, the most surprising thing for her is how often she has to read the word nigger. And this comes in through emails, through Twitter, through Facebook.”

Following this speech, i contacted various people who have worked for Ms Abbott. Ten sources spoke to us under the condition of anonymity, providing further examples of what they see and how it affects them. The specific examples in this article were sent in the week following Abbott’s speech.

“We take any decision to speak out very seriously because we know what it can bring,” one person said.

“Diane is the type of person who likes to get on with her job. She hates being called ‘the victim’.”

One of her other employees added: “It’s usually animals or pornographic images. One Christmas some sick person created an account in Diane’s name and emailed Member of Parliaments and many members of Parliamentary staff with a pornographic image with Diane’s face superimposed. ”

‘I have the solution in my White hands’

Abbott’s staff, past and present, who spoke for this story, unanimously agreed that the worst thing they saw were the death threats, which Abbott mentioned in her speech. Examples they see make reference to “hanging, shooting or in some other horribly way killing her”.

One staffer added: “It’s like one publication said at the beginning of the year: ‘It is open season on Diane Abbott’. Do we have to wait for something more serious to happen to her before people realise this is a problem that needs to be dealt with?

“A lot of the abuse is online and the solution from the companies is for us to ‘just block it’ so we don’t have to see it. But that doesn’t stop the abuse being there. It’s not a satisfactory response to receiving abuse.

“Seeing another black person or woman being abused can have an impact on those who relate.”

In the emails Abbott’s office have received since her testimony one person posted a long racist rant.

Staffers sent the email to i as an example of what they have to read. We have decided to republish part of it here. It contains extreme racist language throughout:

I am just plain tired of niggers.But fortunately,I have the solution to the nigger problem in my White hands. If we stop feeding niggers and giving them free medicine,housing vouchers,etc,most of the niggers will starve or freeze to death out of sheer laziness and stupidity,because they are unable to find food in a country where the majority of people are obese. I hate you,you stupid fat,ugly,black,boot-lipped,jenkem-huffing,blue-gummed,porchmonkey nigger tarbaby,and so does pretty much everyone else.And when everyone else finds out that everyone else feels the same way, you niggers will be taking a boatride back to the muhdikland,your native ancestral shithole. Either that,or the gibs that used to flow so freely into your outstretched monkey paws will dry up faster than your nasty ashy turd-colored nigger skin,and you will have to resort to cannibalism to survive.You are a mistake of nature,and a worthless nigger.

After a number of insults, the email then just repeats the same racial slur over and over again, in capital letters, 695 times.

‘As if Jo was never murdered’

“Her address was published by the Telegraph” a source who was worked with Ms Abbott said. After the article’s publication, her office received an email from someone saying they had confirmed which number her house was by waiting until they saw her son.

“As you can imagine this creates growing concern for her safety and the safety of members of her staff who accompany her to various events.”

There have been recent successful prosecutions of people who abuse MPs. John Wombell was arrested last year after tweeting “someone Jo Cox Anna Soubry please.”

Soubry also mentioned that this was the second death threat she had received that week, after someone called her office and again made references to her and Jo Cox’s murder. “It’s almost as if Jo was never murdered,” she told BBC Nottinghamshire.

Abuse that people wouldn’t have written down 30 years ago

Staffers mentioned that the last couple of years have seen a rise in particularly disturbing abuse, and that the recent emails we were shown barely scratch the surface. In her speech at Parliament, Abbott disagreed with other MPs that this abuse was a result of the 2017 general election.

“It is certainly true that the online abuse that I experience and others experience has got worse in recent years and it does get worse at election time. But I don’t put it down to a particular

election,” said Abbott, although she did say the internet has made it far easier.

“When I first became an MP, if you wanted to attack an MP you had to write a letter, usually in green ink, you had to put it in an envelope, you had to put a stamp on it, and you had to walk to the postbox.

“Now they press a button and you read vile abuse that 30 years ago people would have been frightened even to write down.”

The legacy of Abbott’s abuse

Some of the anonymous sources who have worked for Ms Abbott said that they were upset that the Conservative Party called the Westminster Hall debate “in an attempt to make it appear like abuse was unique to this election and aimed primarily at them.”

“As Diane said, the abuse she has received is not the preserve of any party or faction,” said one source. “We won’t bring it to an end by attempting to ‘score points’ this way.”

Another added: “It’s nice that other Members of Parliament have come out in support, but actually some of them are part of the problem. They are free to taunt and even swear at Diane and Parliamentary authorities do nothing. In fact they are rewarded with favourable coverage.

“So if the message from the media and the highest echelons of the political elite is, ‘You can say what you like about Diane Abbott’, is it any surprise members of the general public think it’s acceptable behaviour?

“As Diane put very poignantly, it’s about the degradation of public discourse. Sadly the most influential in society are abusing their positions and are leading the way.”

One staff member said the legacy of this kind of abuse cannot be underestimated. They recounted how a younger staff member, a “bright and fantastic young woman”, said that she never wanted to become an MP.

“The level of abuse she felt she’d receive as a BAME [Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic] woman was too much,” they said. “This is the legacy of the abuse aimed at Diane and I for one have had enough of it.”