RACE has been very much on the political agenda in Britain last week. First and foremost was the sentencing of two of the killers of Stephen Lawrence. He was a young man of Jamaican heritage who was stabbed to death by a gang of racist thugs in 1993.

At first the case was very little discussed except in the black community. The Lawrences were an ordinary black family, who at first felt very alone. The initial police investigation was a fiasco. A good friend of mine in the local black community was a key supporter in the early days and she kept me in touch with the case.

I was the first MP to raise the issue in the House of Commons. The Lawrences then tried bringing a private prosecution of the alleged killers. Unfortunately, the case collapsed. It must have seemed that all was lost. And some people would have given up. But the Lawrences continued with their dogged campaign for justice.

The Labour Party was still in opposition but I, together with Bernie Grant MP, and Paul Boateng MP, took Doreen Lawrence to meet our Home Affairs spokesman Jack Straw. He was initially a little sceptical, but was ultimately completely bowled over by Doreen’s determination.

He published a full public inquiry into the death of her son and delivered on his promise once we were elected in 1997. This inquiry blew open the institutional racism in the police force that had been such a factor in the police failing to investigate the death properly in the first place.

It took nearly 20 years, but the Lawrence family have at last seen justice. Stephen Lawrence himself is buried in Jamaica. Maybe now he can rest in peace.

The other big race story of recent days has been the controversy about footballers and racial abuse. Chelsea player and England Captain John Terry has been accused of using racist language against Rio Ferdinand. And Liverpool’s Suarez was given an eight-match ban and a £40,000 fine after he hurled the ‘n’ word (seven times in three minutes) at Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.

I am surprised by how many football fans have been prepared to publicly defend both Terry and Suarez. Things have gone a long way in British football from the day when players like John Barnes had to endure sustained racial abuse from supporters. But I welcome the banning of Suarez. It is past time when black footballers should have to endure racial abuse.

Finally, I was involved in a race row last week. The day of the sentencing of Stephen Lawrence I was engaged in lively conversations on Twitter about black leadership. Referencing Britain’s colonial past, I said that white people like to play “divide and rule” and we should not play that game. I should have said “some” white people. But those who know Twitter will realise that you have to pack each tweet into 140 characters.

However, I thought it was widely accepted that Britain built its empire on the principle of “divide and rule” of tribes and nations. I was wrong. The Internet exploded with virulent abuse of me. I was accused of racism against white people and for fully 24 hours I featured on every news bulletin. It was all quite surreal.

So, as we enter 2012, race continues to be an electrifying issue in British society.

Diane Abbott is the British Labour Party’s shadow public health minister

www.dianeabbott.org.uk