Diane Abbott on those who have left the front bench: "They're all special advisers."https://t.co/vAiTfVWTMJ

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) January 6, 2016

Diane Abbott smeared the departed members of the frontbench on Newsnight as “all former Special Advisers”:

“When you look at some of the other people, when you look at Jonathan Reynolds, if you look at Mr Dugher, if you look at some of these others, what do they have in common? They’re all former Special Advisers…”

Reynolds, who wasn’t a SpAd, hits back:

For the record @HackneyAbbott, I was a trainee solicitor when elected, having gone to law school as a mature student and single parent (1/2)

— Jonathan Reynolds MP (@jreynoldsMP) January 6, 2016

@HackneyAbbott And I think you're a total sell-out for sending your own kids to private school (2/2)

— Jonathan Reynolds MP (@jreynoldsMP) January 6, 2016

Anyway, not like Ken Livingstone press officer turned councillor, turned candidate, turned MP, turned shadow minister Diane Abbott is a career politician…