Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott pulled out of an interview with BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday morning, following an embarrassing performance on Sky News.
The ‘car crash’ interview with Sky’s Dermot Murnaghan on Monday caused outrage on social media, after Abbott was unable to recall basic facts just three days ahead of the general election.
Despite Abbott’s insistence that she had read a counter-terrorism report by Labour’s Lord Harris, she was seen struggling to answer questions after a series of long pauses. When asked about the review, she said it was “important” but was unable to elaborate further. She then cited the words “preparedness and resilience” several times when asked if she could remember specific points of the report.
Abbott then pulled out of a scheduled interview on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, saying she will too ill to take part. However, many are speculating that the Labour Press Office has been trying to suppress her media presence as the nation prepares to go to the polls.
@BBCWomansHour this is a picture of Dianne Abbot in Oxford Circus tube station at 8.40am this morning – not seeming very unwell at all. pic.twitter.com/hF9XXLlc7o
— Nick Astaire (@nickastaire) June 6, 2017