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| Diane Abbott axed as shadow health minister by Ed Miliband | Diane Abbott axed as shadow health minister by Ed Miliband |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Outspoken Labour MP Diane Abbott has been sacked as shadow public health minister by Ed Miliband. | |
| She told the BBC: "I think Ed wanted more message discipline." | She told the BBC: "I think Ed wanted more message discipline." |
| She recently questioned the party's stance on immigration and suggested that, although the Labour leader was "doing his best", he was being swayed by polls. | She recently questioned the party's stance on immigration and suggested that, although the Labour leader was "doing his best", he was being swayed by polls. |
| The news that Ms Abbott was being sacked came as Mr Miliband completes the reshuffle of his frontbench team. | The news that Ms Abbott was being sacked came as Mr Miliband completes the reshuffle of his frontbench team. |
| The BBC News Channel's chief political correspondent Norman Smith said she had not seemed particularly bothered by her dismissal, and predicted she would enjoy having the freedom to speak her mind more. | |
| Ms Abbott, a Cambridge graduate and MP for the east London seat of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, hit the headlines last year after saying on Twitter that "white people love playing divide and rule". | |
| More recently, she has hit out at the "pornification" of British culture, calling for a purge of "sexualised" imagery from High Streets, and warning of a "crisis in masculinity". | |
| For much of her career, Ms Abbott was known as something of a left-wing maverick, rebelling against the Blair-Brown governments numerous times on issues including a third runway for Heathrow, renewing the UK's Trident nuclear submarine system, tuition fees and the war in Iraq. | |
| She was promoted to Ed Miliband's front bench following her unsuccessful bid to become Labour leader in 2010. |