Angela Rayner has said she is disappointed that Diane Abbott has defended comments about racism that led to her year-long suspension from Labour, as the party says it is looking “incredibly seriously” at Abbott’s latest remarks.

The deputy prime minister, who last year paved the way for the veteran Labour politician to be allowed to stand for the party again at the election, told the Guardian the comments represented a “real challenge” for the party.

While she said it was not up to her to decide whether Abbott would be suspended, her words suggest that the MP’s future within the party is once again under question. Rayner added that it was “not good” that Abbott had sought to back away from her earlier apology.

Abbott, who represents Hackney North and Stoke Newington, was disciplined for writing a letter to the Observer in April 2023 arguing that people of colour experienced racism “all their lives”, different to the “prejudice” experienced by Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers.

Although she withdrew the comments at the time and apologised for any anguish caused, she was suspended from the Labour party after Keir Starmer said her letter was antisemitic.

Abbott, who was readmitted to Labour before the general election, said she did not look back on the incident with regret and that she stood by the argument.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Reflections programme on Thursday, she said: “Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don’t know.

“I just think that it’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism. I don’t know why people would say that.”

Asked if she was disappointed by Abbott’s latest comments, Rayner said: “I was. There’s no place for antisemitism in the Labour party, and obviously the Labour party has processes for that.

“Diane had reflected on how she’d put that article together, and said that ‘was not supposed to be the version’, and now to double down and say: ‘Well, actually I didn’t mean that. I actually meant what I originally said,’ I think is a real challenge.”

Some MPs expect Starmer to suspend Abbott. At the time of the original comments, Rayner suggested Abbott had not been treated “fairly or appropriately” by some Labour colleagues.

“For me at the time, there was a clarification and an understanding that was said quite clearly: ‘That I understand what I said was not right and not correct.’ To then go back on that and say: ‘Well, actually I didn’t agree with me doing that apology, and explaining why I didn’t mean those things,’ and say: ‘Well I actually did mean them,’ I think that’s not good.”

Abbott’s remarks were broadcast hours after Starmer suspended four Labour MPs from the party whip for repeated breaches of discipline.

Abbott, who has the honorary title mother of the house as the longest-serving female MP in the Commons, said she felt “a bit weary” of people labelling her antisemitic. She had “spent a lifetime fighting racism of all kinds and in particular fighting antisemitism, partly because of the nature of my constituency”.

Asked whether she felt she had been “hung out to dry” by the Labour leadership during the disciplinary process relating to her remarks, she said: “In the end, Keir Starmer had to restore the whip to me.

“I got tremendous support locally. We had a big rally on the steps of Hackney town hall. And in the end Keir Starmer and the people around him had to back off because of the support I had from the community.”

Abbott was readmitted to the party and allowed to stand again in the July 2024 election after party officials failed to broker a deal by which she would get the whip back in return for standing down.

Reports that she would not be allowed to contest her seat as a Labour candidate led to a backlash from MPs and activists. The party’s investigation into her had concluded months earlier but led to no change in her status.

Abbott told the BBC she was sure the Labour leadership had been “trying to get me out” and there were “hints” that she would be offered a seat in the House of Lords if she stepped down as an MP.

“I was never going to do that. And I’m a Labour MP today, and I’m grateful,” she said.

A Labour party spokesperson said: “There is no place for antisemitism in the Labour party. We take these comments incredibly seriously, and will assess them in line with Labour party’s rules and procedures.”

• This article was amended on 17 July 2025 to clarify the text of Diane Abbott’s April 2023 letter to the Observer.