YouSaid · the spoken record

Diane Abbott

lines on the record: 53
first: 2018-11-23
most recent: 2018-11-23
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Yes, he did really say that. Well, I'd forgotten it until you reminded me no. I remember all the people out there, millions of people that are dependent on an efficient and affair and a humane home office. That's what I remember.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I can't remember when I said that. I mean, when I get to the Home Office, I hope, no, I hope to be having served under Labour Home Secretaries, having been an MP for 30 years under both Labour and Conservative Home Secretaries, I hope to be a great reforming home sector.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that Jeremy's position on the EU is actually more closely analogous to the British people than a lot of the people in Westminster. He understands that a lot of people, particularly younger people, value the internationalism that it represents, but he also understands people's reservations. So maybe what people call his ambiguity is actually a more faithful representation of what ordinary people think than you would believe if you were just in the Westminster bubble.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of MPs, but Jeremy's been right on all of the big issues, the Iraq war, tuition fees, migration, but also manoeuvred us into the position where we are now because it would have been so easy to have got shipwrecked by what happened in relation to Brexit, but I think contrary to all of the people that sneer and attack him and so on, that he's played a difficult hand very well up to now, and we have to see how we get through the coming weeks and months.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, of course, you know, no one wants endless hypothetical questions. And because, as I say, this is a situation which changes every 24 hours. I mean, one minute Tory rebels can get 48 letters for virginal confidence. Next minute they haven't quite got 48 letters. It is a bit all that uncertainty and mayhem and backstabbing in the Labour Party in the Conservative Party is, I think, It's difficult not just difficult for the Jeremy, but difficult for the public. The public would just like it to be over with. I think a lot of the criticism of Jeremy stems from the fact that he's never been somebody that went to the right dinner parties. He's never been somebody that moved with the in crowd in Westminster, whether it's an in crowd of journalists or an incrow.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It is of some concern to Jeremy and the Leaders of the Labour Party that important questions about poverty, that UN report, which was really very shameful about the rise in poverty in this country, have kind of been put to one side with this Brexit wrangle. So when we leave, on the one hand, it is right that we will have honoured the referendum results. On the other hand, if we leave on the terms Theresa May is proposing, it will be highly problematic. However, it does represent an opportunity to get on to some big issues which perhaps haven't had the attention they deserve.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The Labour Party will always work with anyone, including maybe some Conservative MPs that want what's best for the country. This whole Brexit situation is in such mayhem and is changing literally from day to day that I wouldn't want to be more specific than that, as I've said. Some form of customs union close in alignment with the single market and protecting rights, those for us are the three, that's our irreducible minimum of demands.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You've got to get it right. It is not in the national interest for Theresa May's deal in its current form, and who knows, it may have changed by the time this podcast is put out, I don't think that's of the national interest deal. No, what we want is we want to stay in a customs union. You want to stay in a form of customs union, because I think anything else is very disruptive. And also staying in a customs union actually deals with the Northern Ireland situation. We want to have a very close alignment with the EU single market and we want to protect people's rights, their employment rights, their human rights, their environmental rights. That's the sort of deal that we would consider supporting.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Let's be clear, we are the official opposition and the clues in the name where the government is doing something wrong and it's manifestly doing a lot of wrong things about Brexit. We're here to oppose it.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think there'd be trouble in the streets, but I do think it would be very upsetting for people because they would feel that, I mean, it was a very good turnout. Leave did win, and they would feel that their vote had just been dismissed, and that would make anybody upset. So I don't think the second referendum is a solution to anything just now, but I don't rule it out.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“First of all, I'm saying that sexual offender was not off the table for the Labour Party. We've said that. We passed a resolution, that conference, we said it was one of a series of options. But yeah, people should be careful what they wish for. Because my view is if we had a second referendum tomorrow, leave would win again. And not only would leave win again, but leave voters would say, what didn't you understand about leave the first time?”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, as sure as anyone can be, I am sure that the referendum vote will be honoured and we will come out of the EU next spring.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I mean, she's just saying I'd frighten people. She's in a desperate circumstance. She'll say anything to frighten people into voting for her deal, which I might add, it's a rubbish deal.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm against unfair and racist immigration control, not least because what you actually get is a muddle and chaos and you get situations like the tragedy that befell the Windrush generation, my parents generation, but of course you have to have controls and it is better in the long run if they are fair and seen to be fair. It is more efficient and better for the society.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, indeed. We're not going to talk about the policy, but I will say this I think it's important that our policies to migrants and workers are, first of all, fair and at all costs we try and treat people equally, but also look at the actual needs of the society and the needs of industry, the health service and so on. But I don't think Q jumping's got anything to do with it. And it's distasteful to say to European doctors and nurses, they're jumping cues. They're actually here filling roles which otherwise are health service and things like social care would be in a very grave crisis.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I understand what they were saying, and they also felt that, you know, as skilled working men, for instance, they felt threatened by skilled working people from Eastern Europe. But I always think you have to be careful at displacing your anger and feelings of resentment onto another minority group. But I am well aware that a lot of people from the Caribbean and from South Asia wrote it to Lee for the reasons that you've just spoken about.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think you have to look at those things, but in any case, we're coming out of the EU and then freedom of movement will fall.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm not saying it's an absolute right, and I think we always have to remember when we're debating freedom of movement, it's like a lot of EU regulations. Britain kind of gold-plated freedom of movement, and other European countries, they've got freedom of movement, but they're stricter in the way that they interpret it. So you can't come if you don't actually have a job. I'm not saying I would necessarily say that, but I think we need to look at how other European countries do it. But in any case,”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I wasn't really managing my diabetes very well. I'm doing a bit better now, but I wasn't. And I wasn't taking into account what missing meals and so on was doing to my blood sugar and my general overall presentation. I wasn't really aware of that. In fact, it was the interview I did with the figures. And my brother said he heard me on the radio because my brother's a diabetes. My brother's a diabetic. He, like me, he had late on sought diabetes. But obviously he's known me all my life. And he heard me do the intro on the figures. He said, no. He said, no, that's not my sister. He said to himself, she could always recall any figure, anytime. That's a diabetes. And he rang me and gave me a telling offer about how I had to look after myself.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, people sometimes say to me, oh, I wish I was as tough as you are and you're strong and you're this and that. No, I'm as thin-skinned as anybody, but I just feel you have to get on with it.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Other politicians make mistakes about figures and facts. They don't get the onslaught and the continuing onslaught that I had. But, you know,”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, I do, I think that. I mean, and I've got an awful lot of sympathy for Lucian because I know what it's like. And it's not just upsetting for you, it's upsetting for your family because she's getting threats to her at home. But whilst I am proud to be a supporter of justice for the Palestinians, there's never any need to descend to borderline anti-Semitic language, never.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I didn't feel angry. As I say, I was surprised, but I took it in good faith. I think a lot of people have looked at what's happening online, not just to me actually, but to other women politicians Luciana Burger, for instance, and they're recoiling for it from it. They are recoiling from it. And so I actually took what Theresa May said in good faith. I also took what my opponents, Adjid Javid, because he is the first one the day before to say something positive. I mean, he said, I don't agree with the word she says, but you have to accept takes a lot of guts to be the first black woman in Parliament. And I took that in good faith also.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think. So, for instance, they had a big thing on Facebook, which you or I might not have seen because it was targeted Facebook ads. And they were about me and some of them were mashups where you cut bits and put them together to make it look as if I supported al-Qaeda. They had billboards. Again, you and I wouldn't have seen them because we're Londoners, but they had billboards in marginals with pictures of me and Jeremy. And I'm not saying they played the race card, but they targeted me in a way which I think they were not unconscious that it would appeal to certain groups of voters.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I would say that first of all, what you have to recognise is the really gross stuff on Twitter and some of the letters we get, which we have to hand to the police in some cases, is actually on a continuum. And if in mainstream party politics people feel they can be abusive or play dog whistle politics, it does affect what happens in the online sphere. So I was slightly surprised that Theresa May said what she said because there's no question in the general election the Tories made a point of going for me because they realised that this would be effective with a certain type of voter. However, I did”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I can't say I never read it I'm on Twitter less than I was actually, but I'm on Twitter and I do see some stuff. I have to say so. I have to say that my staff are very vigilant at making sure now that I don't see it. I used to open all my own posts allowed to do that anymore. I don't go on Facebook at all. I never did. They're very vigilant about me not seeing it but it was my staff that persuaded me to speak out because they found it so upsetting. We were having young girls come to see us on work experience or whatever and they would see all this abusive correspondence on Twitter and they would say I'm having second thoughts about becoming an MP and my staff just finds it so upsetting and the volume was such they said Diane you have to speak out about it because I didn't want to because my idea has always been that being an MP is a privilege and you're not you shouldn't really be complaining”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Easier, or is that more? I think social media has made it easier, but I think that social media becomes like an echo chamber. So if you see someone sending racial sexist abuse, you think you can too. And I think people are perhaps angrier. And I think there is. If you are racist and or sexist, it must make you very angry to see a black woman in public life who won't shut up. It will drive you to all sorts of things.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I mean, we knew we were getting a lot of stuff and it wasn't just tweets my staff would come to the office in the morning and turn on the computer there with emails. There'd be letters, there'd be stuff on Facebook. We knew we were getting a lot of staff. Even we didn't know we were getting fully half of what of all the stuff that was sent to women politicians. But it was a phenomenon of the online age. When I first became an MP you get sort of racist letters, but you get like one a week or one a month. Because in those days you had to write the letter, you had to put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it and put it in a postbox. No, you just press a button and you can spray your abuse everywhere.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, first of all, I'd say that one of the reasons, because I did 12 years on this week, nobody else, apart from obviously Michael and Andrew have done that long, the reason it worked as a kind of trio was that Michael and Andrew and myself had this one thing in common. We were all grammar school children on the make, so we understood each other. But can you be friends with the Tory? I suppose you can. I've been in Parliament a long time, so I have reasonable relationships with some Tories, but not social relationships to say you'd invite them to your home. But I remember I was invited to Michael's 50th birthday party. And so a lot of us from school, basically, and his mum was there. And she was really sweet. She came up to me and she said, I really enjoy this week, you know. I really like the way.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What happened is that there was Harrokansey Grammar School for Girls and there was Harro County Grammar School for Boys and the time I was there Michael Tiller was in the sixth form, Clive Anderson was in the sixth form, a future ambassador to the United States in the sixth form. That's exactly. And we had a drama society called Convergence. And we did a film. I don't know where that film is. That's probably lost about of Macbeth. And Michael was Macduff and I was Mrs. McDuff.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They were ambitious, but because they were people that had left school at 14 and did quite ordinary jobs, although my mother being a nurse is something that's very important to me. I mean, the height of their ambition was relatively limited. I think if I had left school and become a staff nurse, they'd have been very proud. I think becoming a member of parliament somewhat overshot their ambitions by some considerable”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I don't have a picture of a queen in my house. It's not so much that I retain it, but I understand it. I don't reject it. I mean, colleagues from other backgrounds might reject that kind of thing altogether. But having been brought up in a context where the mother country was important, I understand that.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, they were very patriotic, which makes the way the Windrush generation were ultimately treated very cruel, but they weren't anti-British or anti-white. They loved the Queen. They thought of Britain as the mother country, which is not to say they weren't aware of unfairness, but their affection for the country was more important than that.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not so much in the political way. I mean, as you know, when I went to university and read about it, I understood it all better. But what you have to understand is the Windrush generation were very patriotic. They love the Queen. You couldn't go into working class West Indian home in those days and not see a picture of the Queen. They love the Queen.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was very aware of my Jamaican heritage in a nice way though because that generation of Jamaican migrants, the people that came here in the early 50s, the Windrush donation, if you like, were very attached to Jamaica and they sent money home, they called it home, very regularly, and they talked about it all the time at weekends, their friends and the family would come around.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I wouldn't say that I thought it was a failure. Well, we need to remake the system entirely, but I did see things I thought were very unfair. I remember reading files on the prison service because I was in the prison department and then the parole board and seeing how many race incidents that there were in prisons because they had to be reported and yet nothing was done. No one was queering it. I saw a lot of things that I thought were unfair and the one thing that always animated me is unfairness and injustice.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To look a bit surprised. Why would anybody want to do that? I'm sure they thought. But I went and I asked permission and so I joined. But yeah, in a more general sense, the Home Office politicised me because you were there at the heart of the activities of the state.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Party because you had to ask permission at my grade because I was a graduate trainee, you had to go and ask your permanent secretary if you could join the Labour Party. And I wanted to make that point. That was it.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's something that you master. In terms of what made me political, I was always political. I mean, when I was a schoolgirl, I used to read my spare rib, you know, the feminist magazine, and I joined a women's group. And when I was at Cambridge, I read endless books and writing about black politics and what was happening in America. But what politicized me in an active sense was actually going to work at Home Office and being in the heart, as it were, of the state and being in the heart of so many institutions that poor people and black people found themselves in conflict, whether it's policing or immigration. And I felt it was important to make a point. And I made my point by joining the Labour.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“People who come up through student politics, whether they're Labour Tour or Liberal, they at the end of the day, they tend to be a bit like hacks. Somebody for whom the process of politics and winning at politics is more important than the issues at stake.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you're quite right. I wasn't involved in student politics and I still retain a certain distaste for people who came up through student politics, like your good self.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, in any situation like that, you don't necessarily need everybody in the room because the important thing is for the people that really matter to be of one mind and then to go out there and sell it.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, Jeremy is a very strong-minded person and who makes up his own minds about issues. But we have known each other a very long time. And if I say something, he doesn't necessarily dismiss it.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think the thing about being good at office politics is you have to pay attention to the minutiae. So for instance who a memo is copied to, who is in certain meetings, what sort of office you're given. These may seem trivial to the untrained eye, but it's the trivia that can reinforce you or undermine you.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, no, I don't have schools to settle, but I don't regard it with fondness. But it was a great learning experience for me, actually. The Home Office gave me an insight into how government works from an official's point of view. They taught me how to write a memorandum. You'd be surprised how many people don't know how to write a memo and it goes on for pages and pages. And they also taught me about the importance of being good at office politics. Because at the top of the civil service, if you're good at office politics, you get to run the country.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It would feel quite extraordinary. I worked in the Home Office. It was my first job when I came down from Cambridge and I was there as a graduate trainee and to go back as Home Secretary would be extraordinary. But I've always been interested in home affairs issues, policing, immigration. And it would be the pinnacle of my career.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We'll always say to my MP colleagues that people in Hackney send me to Parliament to get rid of the Tories. And if it's all about getting rid of the Tory government, you have to do what it takes.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We would only want to ally with MPs or a group of MPs who agreed with us on the issues at stake at this point. We don't agree with DUP on the issues at stake. You can't necessarily rule anything out.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And the thing you were involved in that, I might add, DUP have never proved to be a very liable set of allies, as Theresa May may be on the point of finding out.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, Jeremy's always said we should be ready for an election at any time. But, you know, this is an era of things that you never thought could happen are happening. And whatever legislation says, in the end, Parliament disposes and Parliament proposes.”
2018-11-23 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Diane Abbott One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source