Diane Abbott: I advised Jeremy Corbyn not to start new party

MP predicts struggle under first past the post but understands why her longtime friend established party

Diane Abbott has said she advised her longtime friend Jeremy Corbyn not to launch a new political party because she believed it would struggle to make inroads under the first-past-the-post system.

Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said last month she would not be leaving Labour in favour of Corbyn’s as yet unnamed party, despite the pair having worked closely together in the past.