Keir Starmer has conceded to Muslim Labour MPs that his visit to a south Wales mosque could have been handled better, the Guardian understands, as he faces mounting pressure from all wings of the party to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The shadow women and equalities minister, Yasmin Qureshi, publicly broke Labour ranks on Wednesday and urged Rishi Sunak to call for a ceasefire during prime minister’s questions. She said the people of Gaza were subject to “collective punishment” for “crimes they did not commit”.
Many in Labour feared that Qureshi risked losing the whip for her comments. But in a sign that the leadership has acknowledged the deepening fractures across the party, a Labour spokesperson said: “If I heard the question correctly … she was asking the prime minister what the conditions were that would lead the prime minister to support a ceasefire.”
The Labour leader and his deputy, Angela Rayner, met more than a dozen Muslim politicians on Wednesday afternoon, who stressed that his positioning on the Israel-Hamas conflict was causing distress to many in the party.
Those in attendance were said to have argued that the disappointment felt by many in the party amounted to much more than a “Jewish-Muslim community issue”, the Guardian understands.
Sources described the meeting as “constructive” and “robust”, with Starmer and Rayner said to be in “full listening mode”.
“He tried to say that he gets it, the frustration,” said one person who was present. Starmer acknowledged the amount of “work to be done” to win back the trust of Muslim voters, they said, adding that they thought the leadership would continue to adapt their position to fall in line with international leaders, depending on how severe the conflict gets.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Starmer said Labour backed calls for humanitarian pauses amid international concern about the fate of Palestinian civilians facing Israeli bombardment.
But a Labour MP present at the meeting said the leadership was “at odds with the public they want to win over”, citing a YouGov poll showing that 76% of the public support a ceasefire.
On Tuesday night, the South Wales Islamic Centre accused Starmer of having “gravely misrepresented” his meeting with Muslim leaders there over the weekend. The Labour leader met about 30 community leaders on Sunday, who had expressed disappointment and anger over the leadership’s stance on the crisis in what was described as a “tense meeting”.
Despite insiders saying it had gone well, the Labour leader prompted anger after he shared images of the discussion on X, formerly Twitter, saying he had “made clear it is not and has never been my view that Israel had the right to cut off water, food, fuel or medicines. International law must be followed.”
A statement from the centre said: “Members of the community directly challenged Keir on his statements made on the Israeli government’s right to cut food, electricity and water to Gaza, warranting war crimes, as well as his failure to call for an immediate ceasefire.”
More than 40 Labour MPs and 250 councillors from areas including Birmingham, Blackburn, Glasgow, Barking and Dagenham have urged Starmer to back an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Last week at least 20 councillors were reportedly intending to resign over the issue.
A prominent frontbencher told the Guardian on Wednesday they had considered quitting as they felt the anger from the Muslim community towards Labour “had not come out of the blue”.
“The big point is you have to fight from the inside. The feeling is strong on the lack of Palestinian empathy. There has always been broad support for Palestinians on our benches, the anger has not come out of the blue. Even during the Iraq war, the levels of anger on our benches were not as bad as this,” they told the Guardian.
One MP said they were concerned the damage had already been done to relations with the Muslim community and that “any change in stance now is just damage control”.
