Son’s schooling spells trouble for Britain’s black woman MP

LONDON - Britain’s first black woman MP Dianne Abott, who is a contender for Labour’s party chief post, is in the political crosshairs for using the race card to justify sending her son to an expensive private school.

Her son James went to the prestigious City of London School that costs 10,000 pounds a year and has just finished his international baccalaureate and is hoping to go to Cambridge University.

Diane, who once attacked Tony Blair and Harriet Harman for sending their children to selective state schools, is now facing a similar ire from her Labour colleagues. At the time her son joined the private school, she termed her action as “indefensible”.

But when the issue came to the fore again after she became a candidate for the post of Labour Party chief, she retorted: “I knew what could happen to my son if he was sent to the wrong school and got in with the wrong crowd. I realised they were subjected to peer pressure, and when that happens it’s very hard for a mother to save her son. Once a black boy is lost to the world of gangs it’s very hard to get them back, and I was genuinely very fearful of what could happen.”

Her Labour critics have called her a hypocrite. Former Labour special adviser Paul Richards, who is also a columnist for the Left-wing magazine Progress, told The Daily Mail: “This is rank hypocrisy and an insult to all parents who are part of the mainstream education system.”

Not one to take criticism silently, Diane lashed out at her critics again: “They didn’t understand me. I’m a West Indian mum and West Indian mums will go to the wall for their children. It’s that kind of atavistic streak that we have. It’s got me the most positive response from black women locally. Because ultimately in their eyes it’s about doing the right thing for their children.”

(Venkata Vemuri can be contacted at venkata.v@ians.in)