Diane Abbott appeared to accuse Keir Starmer of telling “more lies” on Sunday night, escalating a row over the hard-Left MP’s plans to stand for Labour in the election.
BBC reporter Nick Eardley shared a screenshot of a now-deleted tweet that appeared on Ms Abbott’s profile, which read: “More lies from Starmer”. The tweet accompanied an image of an article by The Guardian titled: “Starmer on Abbott: ‘I’ve actually got more respect for Diane than she probably realises.’”
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Eardley wrote: “Blimey… tweeted (and then deleted) from Diane Abbott(’s) account tonight. The row rumbles on.”
Eardley was forced to reassure his followers of the post’s veracity after some social media users claimed it appeared “fake” and the result of a “photoshop job”.
He said it was “good to see people scrutinising to check (the) tweet is real”, but “for those asking, I screengrabbed this from (the) original tweet”.
It comes as Ms Abbott, 70, on Sunday insisted she would run as a Labour candidate for her constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, following days of confusion.
She also denied reports that she had been offered a peerage to stand down.
“I have never been offered a seat in the Lords, and would not accept one if offered,” she said on Twitter.
“I am the adopted Labour candidate for Hackney North and Stoke Newington. I intend to run and to win as Labour’s candidate.”
Ms Abbott claimed earlier that Labour was preventing her from standing as its candidate, more than a year after being suspended over a racism row, where she suggested Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experience prejudice, but not racism.
She had the Labour whip restored last week, but reports emerged that she could be “barred” from running for the party.
Sir Keir declined to say for days whether Ms Abbott would be defending her seat, as he faced claims of a “purge” of left-wing candidates.
But he finally said on Friday that Ms Abbott was “free to go forward as a Labour candidate”.
It is unknown whether the deleted tweet will now impact those plans.
The Telegraph has approached Ms Abbott, Labour and the BBC for comment.
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