Labour defends Diane Abbott over stumbling interview

Diane Abbott will continue to be a key figurehead in Labour’s general election campaign, the party has indicated, despite a stumbling radio performance in which she struggled to explain how a pledge to hire 10,000 extra police officers would be funded.The shadow home secretary was tripped up by LBC host Nick Ferrari, who asked her on Tuesday morning how much the key law and order pledge would cost.Eventually, Abbott appeared to find the right page in her briefing notes, and gave the full c