LABOUR’S action against Diane Abbott is “ungrounded,” Jewish campaigners said today after the prominent leftwinger was suspended from the party over a letter about racism that she had published in a Sunday newspaper.

The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP has had the Labour whip withdrawn or suggesting in her letter, which appeared in the  Observer, that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people are not subject to the same racism that others face “all their lives.”

Most criticism from public figures and in online posts called her claim anti-semitic. 

In the letter, which the lifelong anti-racism campaigner said was an initial draft and not the finished piece, she argued that although white people, “with points of difference,” face prejudice, they have not suffered the same racism as black people.

Ms Abbott said today that she “wholly and unreservedly” withdrew her remarks and disassociated herself from them.

She said: “The errors arose in an initial draft being sent. But there is no excuse and I wish to apologise for any anguish caused.”

“Racism takes many forms and it is completely undeniable that Jewish people have suffered its monstrous effects, as have Irish people, Travellers and many others.”

Ms Abbott, who was Britain’s first black female MP, has faced racist abuse both online and within the Labour Party, as revealed by the Forde report.

Jewish Voice for Labour described Labour’s action against her as “yet a further attack on our freedom to debate very important issues” in the party, insisting that the letter was no grounds for suspension. 

The group insisted that the letter was not anti-semitic, adding that the way some critics have “rounded on her, as if it were, is cynical and unhelpful.”

A Jewish Voice for Labour statement said: “As a prominent black Labour MP, she cannot avoid discussing the way black and Asian people are in the front line of racist oppression — and the way the black experience has been downplayed in the Labour Party.

“This was identified by Martin Forde in his report as a hierarchy of racism.  

“The wording of Diane’s letter was unfortunate in that it appeared to compare forms of racism. Diane has rightly apologised for this.

“The fight against racism today — certainly in this country — is centred on defence of black and Asian people.

“This in no way discounts the experience of Jews.

“Jewish people in this country, of course, face prejudice and racism, in particular the Haredim, who in their dress are highly visible, but it is not institutional, structural racism that fundamentally affects their prospects and outcomes.”

A Labour spokesman said that the party condemned the “deeply offensive and wrong” comments by Ms Abbott.