Ten days after Hamas had launched its devastating attack on Israel, Keir Starmer prepared to meet his shadow cabinet, in part to discuss the party’s handling of the issue.
The Labour leader had won plaudits from the right for his staunch defence of Israel, insisting the country had a right to defend itself from attacks from Gaza, and refusing to speak up against some of Israel’s military tactics in the region. And while some Labour councillors had quit in protest, Starmer had avoided any high-profile rebellions from within the parliamentary party.
But if the Labour leader thought this meant his frontbench team was fully behind his approach, he was about to get a rude awakening.
Three senior frontbenchers – Shabana Mahmood, Louise Haigh and Wes Streeting – spoke up during the meeting to warn that Labour was at risk of appearing callous and of losing Muslim votes.
Starmer’s interview on LBC a few days earlier, in which he said Israel “has the right” to withhold power and water from Gaza, had upset many of their constituents and parliamentary colleagues. To make it worse, a senior Labour source had been quoted as saying the resignations of Labour councillors was a sign the party was “shaking off the fleas”.
Mahmood, the shadow justice secretary and Labour’s highest-profile Muslim MP, told Starmer his stance had caused huge offence in the Muslim community and urged the Labour leader to clarify the position in line with Labour values.
Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, said Labour leaders needed to express an emotional connection with Palestinians who were suffering. Streeting, the shadow health secretary and one of Starmer’s closest frontbench allies, talked about fear among Muslims of an Islamophobic backlash.
“We just looked like we didn’t care about Palestinians,” said one senior Labour MP after the meeting. “That is a mistake morally, but it is also a mistake electorally. We’ve managed to alienate both Muslims and the liberal left who make up such a large part of our base.”
Another added: “Put the votes to one side, put the fact that you might lose some councils and some recent constituencies aside. What’s the decent Labour thing to do? How have we gone that far away from our Labour values of equality and justice?”
Starmer has led a huge turnaround in Labour’s fortunes since taking over as leader in 2020, mainly by repudiating much of the legacy of his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn. The strategy of junking left-wing policy commitments, sacking those who failed to toe the new party line and cleaving to Conservative tax plans has so far paid electoral dividends, underlined by this week’s two historic byelection victories.
But even those closest to Starmer believe he may have pushed the strategy too far this time. By failing to put any distance between Labour and the Conservatives on an issue of importance to British voters, they believe he has played into Tory hands.
“This isn’t Ukraine,” said one Labour MP. “We don’t have to stick exactly to what the government and the Americans are saying.”
Labour is not alone on being divided over what is happening in Gaza and southern Israel. Rishi Sunak’s similarly staunch defence of Israel has also caused concern for some of his backbenchers, although his more emollient tone during Monday’s Commons debate helped alleviate some of their concerns.
One senior Conservative MP said: “Until that debate I was deeply unhappy with the narrative. Every time we say that whatever happens on Gaza is the fault of Hamas, we are gaslighting the Palestinians and giving the green light to Israel to do whatever they want in retaliation.”
But Labour is far more deeply divided on the question of how to handle the crisis, caught between a desire to move away from the antisemitism of the Corbyn years and the need to show solidarity with Palestinians and their own Muslim supporters.
Some of Starmer’s allies think he has got his message right.
Steve McCabe, the chair of Labour Friends of Israel, said: “There is always pressure when something like this happens but I would say his handling has been spot on.
“There are always people who warn you they are not going to vote Labour, from the day you are elected. We have to accept there is a group of people out there who spend their time looking for reasons to leave and I would treat those comments with scepticism.”
The Labour leader, however, seems to have accepted the need to change his tone, if not the overall message.
The day after the shadow cabinet meeting, Starmer wrote to Labour councillors expressing sympathy for Muslims and Jews caught up in the conflict, but not directly referring to his comments to LBC.
“Is he gaslighting us?” said one councillor. “Where’s the acknowledgment of what he’s said?” Another added: “Why can’t he show some empathy to the Palestinians? This is the lowest I’ve ever felt in the party.”
David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, held a virtual meeting with Labour MPs on Wednesday at which he was given a similar message. “We have to speak to people’s common humanity,” said one MP. “We have more that unites us than divides us and unless we make that case, who is going to do that?”
That evening, 72 Labour councillors signed a letter to Starmer saying they had lost confidence in him as leader of the Labour party, although there are more than 6,400 Labour councillors across the UK.
The Labour leader has spent the last few days clarifying his stance on the Middle East crisis. On Friday morning, he directly addressed the disastrous LBC interview, telling ITV: “I was saying Israel had the right to self-defence … I was not saying Israel had the right to cut off water, food, fuel or medicines.”
Eight Labour councillors who have quit the party over the issue are to write to Starmer urging him to call for an immediate ceasefire.
They will also call on the leader to lift the ban on Labour MPs, councillors and others from attending protests in solidarity with Palestine and call on Israel to allow the international criminal court and UN human rights council access to Gaza to carry out a fully independent investigation into the attack.
On Monday, he is due to meet Jewish and Muslim community leaders and visit a mosque, according to one Labour source.
Labour MPs say the shift in approach has helped, though they want him to go further by allowing them to speak more freely on the issue and to attend pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Some, however, fear even that may be too late.
“Keir’s LBC clip went viral,” said one MP. “I fear his more nuanced explanation of what he actually meant might not.”
