Freed from the shackles of Shadow Cabinet scrutiny, Diane Abbott has been able to go completely off the rails. In a Zoom chat last week entitled “Trump’s War on China”, Abbott joined former MP Emma Dent Coad among others to attack Trump and defend China. Abbott claimed that the PM’s Hong Kong citizenship offer is driven by Anti-Chinese views rather than a will to defend Hong Kong; and China can’t be criticised for crushing freedom because Hongkongers couldn’t vote under the British Empire. Forgetting their 1997 rights of independent courts, burgeoning democracy and extensive protections of civil liberties…

Abbott’s assertions weren’t challenged by any of her fellow Chinese Communist Party appeasing comrades, one of whom – Labour NEC member Rachel Garnham – later called for a statue to be erected of the former Shadow Home Secretary. Chairman Abbott laughed along, approving of the cultural revolution. 破四旧.