Quotes from Diane Abbott

When fast food is not a treat but a dietary staple, the children surf the internet all day in dark corners of the room and are bombarded with latest gadgets. Things replace parental standards.

Being an MP is a good job, the sort of job all working-class parents want for their children -- clean, indoors and no heavy lifting. What could be nicer?

Abortion is an issue of conscience for the Labour party.

I don't think you can have pain and soul-searching doing the right thing for your child.

I knew what could happen to my son if he was sent to the wrong school and got in with the wrong crowd.

You can't defend the indefensible - anything you say sounds self-serving and hypocritical.

You learn from mistakes.

My London constituency in Hackney has one of the highest levels of gun crime in the country. But the problem is no longer confined to inner city areas. Gun crime has spread to communities all over Britain.

I wanted my marriage to work, but it didn't.

Outsiders often have an insight that an insider doesn't quite have.

In politics, the people I most despise are those who have no values.

My family were from Jamaica.

My father was a manual worker.

I was a postman one Christmas and I developed a morbid fear of dogs.

Gun crime is a major cause of fear and distress throughout the UK. The problem is deeply entrenched in a wide range of social and cultural factors and therefore not an isolated issue.

Families are struggling against a tide of junk information on junk food.