With no end to the war in sight, expect the theme over Labour splits on Israel to be a constant one
Ten of Sir Keir Starmer’s frontbenchers have tonight left their posts after backing an SNP motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Jess Phillips, Afzal Khan, Paula Barker and Yasmin Qureshi were among 56 Labour MPs who defied their party’s whips to abstain tonight. Sarah Owen, Andy Slaughter, Naz Shah and Rachel Hopkins also left their briefs, as did two parliamentary private secretaries: Dan Carden and Mary Foy. They follow Imran Hussain’s departure last week in protest at Labour’s unwillingness to differ from the government in his support for Israel. The SNP motion was heavily defeated, with 125 ayes for a ceasefire and 293 noes against.
Publicly, Starmer is unrepentant about suffering the biggest rebellion of his leadership. In a press release issued straight after the vote he reiterated that Israel had suffered ‘its worst terrorist attack in a single day’ at the hands of Hamas on 7 October. ‘No government would allow the capability and intent to repeat such an attack to go unchallenged’, he added. He continued: ‘I regret that some colleagues felt unable to support the position tonight. But I wanted to be clear about where I stood, and where I will stand. Leadership is about doing the right thing. That is the least the public deserves.’
Privately, there has been much soul-searching in recent weeks over the high civilian casualties in the ongoing conflict over Gaza. The frontbenchers who quit tonight will remain vocal members of the parliamentary Labour party; their fears and concerns are unlikely to be allayed anytime soon. In her resignation letter, Jess Phillips repeatedly stressed her commitment to Starmer’s leadership but concluded that:
I must vote with my constituents, my head and my heart which has felt as if it were breaking over the last four weeks with the horror of the situation in Israel and Palestine.
It’s a sentence that neatly encapsulates the intense passions felt by outraged constituents and conflicted MPs over Gaza. With no end to the war in sight, expect the theme over Labour splits on Israel to be a constant one for the foreseeable future.
Tonight’s vote also marks the close of an era. The resignations of Barker and Hopkins mean that there are now no members of the Socialist Campaign Group serving on the Labour frontbench. Out with the Corbynistas; in with the Starmtroopers.
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