Is Diane Abbott daring Burnham to withdraw the whip again?

It’s been a whole two days since Andy Burnham turned up in Parliament as prime minister for the first time, and already he has to face the rite of passage of pretty much all Labour leaders: deciding whether to turf Diane Abbott out of the party.

A little over a month after having a year-long suspension lifted over an anti-semitism row, Abbot has this week apparently decided to test Burnham’s resolve, describing Russia’s threat to the UK as a “Nato fiction” and demanding no increase in military spending.

The hardline left winger characteristically chose her timing carefully. Not only was it the day after Burnham and Kemi Badenoch began their first Commons exchange by agreeing on the need to continue support for Ukraine, but it was also the very same day Vladimir Putin, asked whether defence industry sites in Britain could be targeted, replied: “That’s a secret; classified military information.”

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Abbott wrote on Elon Musk’s X (naturally): “The imminent threat from Russia is a Nato fiction to justify their complete capitulation to Trump’s demands for more military spending. The increase should not go ahead.”

Ukrainian officials have described Abbott’s comments as “unacceptable”, while at least two Nato allies have apparently raised the remarks with the British government, Politico reported.

But alas, for the attention-seeking Abbott, Labour top brass have apparently decided to deal with her remarks in the way that terrifies her most: by denying her the oxygen of publicity. Asked on LBC by Nick Ferrari for her response to her colleague’s outburst, border security minister Anna Turley said: “I’ll leave that to the whips to deal with. I’ve got enough on my plate.”

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And Downing Street itself simply said: “As the PM said yesterday, the UK stands in full solidarity with Germany following Russia’s egregious and reckless attack in Leipzig. Our commitment to supporting Ukraine from Russia’s illegal invasion is ironclad.”

Abbott was only readmitted to the Labour Party at the end of July following a year-long suspension after questioning whether Jewish, Irish or Traveller people could experience racism as black people do.

This time, however, party chiefs have decided to just ignore her. She must be furious – so much so that she’s already taken the rare decision to delete the post!