STAND with Diane Abbott by restoring the Labour whip to her, union leaders told Sir Keir Starmer today.

The general secretaries of four Labour-affiliated unions wrote to the party leader telling him that readmitting the first black woman MP to the parliamentary party would demonstrate “our commitment to combating racism within our party and society at large.”

Ms Abbott has been under investigation for over a year, having been suspended following the publication of a newspaper letter criticised for playing down anti-Jewish racism.

Union leaders Maryam Eslamdoust of transport union TSSA, Dave Ward of the Communication Workers Union, Mick Whelan of train drivers’ union Aslef and Matt Wrack of the firefighters’ union FBU argued in their letter that Ms Abbott was “continually subjected to huge volumes of racism, misogyny and abuse.”

They also noted that she had “tirelessly served her constituents and championed the working people of Britain throughout her 37 years in Parliament.”

Leading Tory donor Frank Hester recently caused outrage when it emerged he had said that he wanted to “shoot” Ms Abbott and she made him want to “hate all black women.”

None of this has yet moved Sir Keir and the Labour Party apparatus, whose opaque and painfully slow “investigations” are causing mounting concern in the party.

There are clear suspicions that they are protracting Ms Abbott’s case beyond all reason in order to prevent her standing as a Labour candidate at the forthcoming election.

One Labour MP subject to these investigations said privately today that the system was wide open to abuse for political purposes.

A Reinstate Diane Abbott community rally will be held at 3pm on Sunday in Hackney Downs Park, east London.