On Sunday morning, Diane Abbott was quick to get out in front of voices criticising her “antisemitic” Observer letter. She swiftly apologised, blaming “the errors” on “an initial draft being sent”. True to form, Diane’s defence doesn’t add up.

The Jewish Chronicle today reports that Diane submitted two letters to the Observer, each hours apart. After the first attempt, she was prompted to resubmit the letter including an address and after a few hours – with plenty of time to make adjustments -Diane sent the letter again. Both submissions were identical.

To make matters worse, the email came from Diane’s personal email address and a whole week elapsed – without any attempts at correction – between the letter’s submission and publication. To be fair to Diane, she hasn’t always advanced the view she held out on the Observer’s letter page. It also baffles Guido that the Observer missed the story entirely. 

It is all the more bizarre that she downgraded antisemitism to prejudice when during a debate on antisemitism in April 2018, she came out strongly and clearly against that very position, arguing passionately:

“I came into politics to fight racism and I have never resiled from that position. For me, it has always been the case that racism includes antisemitism. Jew hatred is race hatred, and one antisemite in the Labour party is one too many.”

It might surprise some to read that Guido is leaning towards thinking that the increasingly befuddled Diane should be an object of our sympathy rather than condemnation…