LABOUR leader Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure to restore the whip to Diane Abbott, with a petition supporting the demand gathering over 16,000 signatures. 

It has been signed by Labour MPs including Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Beth Winter, Richard Leonard, Richard Burgon, Apsana Begum, Jon Trickett and Nadia Whittome. 

Lord John Hendy KC said the idea of her not being permitted to stand in the election is unthinkable and “the ultimate insult on top of the catalogue of vile abuse she suffered at the hands of the party.”