Leading Labour party leadership candidate, Rebecca Long-Bailey, has leapt to the defence of embattled departing royal Rachel Meghan Markle.

Markle, whose official title is the Duchess of Sussex, is set to leave the royal family, alongside her husband, Prince Harry, whose official title is the Duke of Sussex.

Some British commentators have speculated that the main reason the couple are abandoning the royal family is because Markle has come under sustained explicit and implicit racial abuse ever since she officially joined the British royal family in 2018.

Markle is of mixed race background, her mother being African-American, whilst her father is European-American.

In a series of tweets today Long-Bailey decried the British press’s “double standards” in mistreating Markle, who has been “bullied”, “harassed”, “disrespected” and “smeared” because of her race.

Let’s be honest, there is a racist double-standard in how the press treat Meghan Markle. Women of colour in public life are subject to bullying, harassment, disrespect and smears - and all the while are expected to be grateful that they’re getting any attention at all. — Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey) January 19, 2020

Long-Bailey compares Markles’ plight to that of Diane Abbot, a senior Labour party member who is regularly hounded by the British press in part because of her race. Abbot is of Jamaican heritage.

In our party we’ve seen how Diane Abbott has been vilified by the right wing press. Her litany of groundbreaking achievements - a welder’s daughter who made it to Cambridge, becoming the first black woman in the House of Commons - are routinely ignored. — Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey) January 19, 2020

In her final tweet Long-Bailey pledges to combat the “toxic” mix of racism and sexism which is the bread and butter of the right-wing British press.

The toxic combination of sexism and racism that runs rife through the right-wing press must be stopped. As leader of the Labour Party, I will do everything I can to fight it. — Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey) January 19, 2020

Long-Bailey’s spirited defence of Markle is her latest bold move in challenging the double standards and prejudices of the British establishment.

Just a few days ago Long-Baily declared her intention to combat Islamophobia, which is gaining increasing respectability in the UK.

The move infuriated the British establishment which has tried to frame the Labour party as anti-Semitic with a view to aggravating internal divisions within the party.

Many left-wing Labour party activists are of the opinion that the anti-Semitism charge also helps deflect attention away from Islamophobia.

Currently, Long-Bailey is the favourite to succeed outgoing Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

The recent opinion poll of Labour party members (by Survation) finds that 42 percent of the party rank and file give Long-Bailey their first preference vote. Her nearest rival is the centrist candidate, Keir Starmer, who gets 37 percent of the first preference vote.

The next leader of the Labour party is set to be elected by early April.