Diane Abbott stepping aside as shadow home secretary 'for period of ill health'

Diane Abbott has temporarily stepped aside from her role as shadow home secretary due to "ill health".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced the move on Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours before polls open for the General Election. She will be replaced by Lyn Brown.

Following the shock announcement, an upbeat Ms Abbott tweeted: "Touched by all the messages of support. Still standing! Will rejoin the fray soon. Vote Labour!"

Ms Abbott pulled out of an appearance on Radio 4's Women's Hour on Tuesday, blaming her health, and shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry stepping in at the last minute.

She was later scratched from an Evening Standard hustings, and cancelled a planned radio appearance the following day.

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Describing the surprise shadow cabinet swap as "surprising", Sky's Political Correspondent Tamara Cohen said: "We don't know what the health condition is, although Diane Abbott was suffering from a migraine a few months ago... she hasn't been seen much in the last few days."

In a huddle on a plane on the way to a Conservative campaign event, Theresa May said: "How Jeremy Corbyn manages his shadow cabinet is for him. I just wish Diane a speedy recovery."

A spokesperson for Ms Abbott said: "Ms Abbott will not be talking about her health at this time. There can be no more distractions from the real issues of this General Election.

"Ms Abbott will be joining Labour party colleagues to get the vote out on Thursday."

Ms Abbott has had a number of embarrassing gaffes during the election campaign.

This week she struggled to answer questions on Sky News over a key counter-terrorism review.

Despite insisting she had read the review, commissioned by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, she faltered on questions about merging police forces and putting up security barriers.

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Last month, she had to defend herself against claims she was not up to the job after coming unstuck trying to add up the cost of Labour's big election policing pledge.

During an LBC radio interview, she failed to put a correct figure on the cost of providing an extra 10,000 officers on the streets, initially coming up with a bill that would have left them earning just £30 a year.

Ms Abbott later insisted she "misspoke" and said she was "completely on top of her brief".

On the morning of her mistake, she said she had taken part in seven interviews, and had stumbled in only one.

Referring to the shadow home secretary's temporary replacement, Mr Corbyn told BBC Breakfast she had "received totally unfair levels of attack and abuse not just recently - over many years".

When he was asked for how long she would be taking a break, Mr Corbyn replied: "I'll be talking to her later on today - she's not well at the moment."

The party said she would be stepping aside "for the period of her ill health".

Mrs Brown, who replaces her with immediate effect, was first appointed to Labour's shadow home affairs team in 2015.

She resigned the next year, following a vote of no confidence in Mr Corbyn's leadership, but rejoined the front bench three months later as minister for policing.

Party leaders are today campaigning around the country in a final push before polling day.

In the wake of the London Bridge terrorist attack, Mrs May has come under fire for telling supporters that she will rip up some human rights laws if they "stop us" from tackling terrorism.

If re-elected she said she would introduce longer custodial sentences for convicted terrorists, make it easier for authorities to deport foreign terror suspects back to their own countries and further restrict the freedom and the movements of terrorist suspects.