Diane Abbott will make history as the first black person to represent their party at Prime Minister’s Questions, it has been revealed.
In a tweet, Jeremy Corbyn said Labour’s home secretary would be standing in for him at PMQs on Wednesday.
“This #BlackHistoryMonth we’re inspired by the struggles of black campaigners including the first black MPs elected in 1987,” the Labour leader said on Tuesday.
“Tomorrow one of those pioneering MPs, a child of the Windrush Generation, Diane Abbott, will be the first black person to represent their party at #PMQs.”
Abbott will face off against foreign secretary Dominic Raab, who is standing in for Boris Johnson for the first time.
The prime minister will be in Manchester giving a speech to the Conservative Party Conference.
The House of Commons is usually in recess over the conference period.
However, after the Supreme Court ruled Johnson had unlawfully suspended parliament, opposition MPs refused to give the Tories the usual parliamentary break allowed to parties to hold their conference.
In a tweet, Abbott said she was “looking forward” to PMQs.
In the past, shadow home secretary Emily Thornberry and Labour frontbencher Rebecca Long-Bailey have both stood in for Corbyn.