The Labour party on Thursday played down its divisions over Gaza after 15 London MPs joined a significant rebellion against Sir Keir Starmer and backed a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas.
Hammersmith MP Andy Slaughter and the high-profile Jess Phillips were among eight front benchers who quit Sir Keir’s ministerial team, after they supported an SNP motion demanding the ceasefire in a Commons vote late on Wednesday.
The leader’s office had imposed a three-line whip for Labour MPs to abstain from the SNP amendment. Sir Keir called for “humanitarian pauses” rather than a full ceasefire, which he says would only serve to allow Hamas to regroup.
But 56 Labour MPs rebelled. As well as Mr Slaughter, the 15 from London were Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Tooting), Apsana Begum (Poplar & Limehouse), Karen Buck (Westminster North), Dawn Butler (Brent Central), Stella Creasey (Walthamstow), Jon Cruddas (Dagenham and Rainham), Marsha de Cordova (Battersea), Barry Gardiner (Brent North), Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton), John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington), Kate Osamor (Edmonton), Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Streatham), Sam Tarry (Ilford South) and Sir Stephen Timms (East Ham).
Dr Allin-Khan told the Standard that Israel’s response to Hamas’ massacre on October 7 had gone “above and beyond what could ever be considered proportionate”.
The Tooting MP has spent months working as a doctor in Palestinian hospitals in the past. She was a front bencher herself until moved out in a September reshuffle.
Ms Ribeiro-Addy said: "The bloodshed has to stop. Only an immediate ceasefire can protect innocent Palestinian civilians and ensure the safety of Israeli hostages.
"Aid and negotiations for a just and lasting peace will be ineffective whilst the bombardment continues."
Shadow defence secretary John Healey expressed some sympathy for the rebels with many reporting they have been deluged by complaints from constituents.
“I know they all wrestled with this difficult decision and I know they all have said that they 100 per cent want Keir Starmer in Downing Street and will work together to secure a Labour government,” he told Times Radio.
Mr Healey insisted on BBC Breakfast that the “vast majority” of Labour MPs backed “the most practical step” of calling for humanitarian pauses to get aid into Gaza and Israeli hostages seized by Hamas out.
“On the front benches a small number had to resign while the vast majority backed humanitarian pauses – the best way in these circumstances now trying to relieve the suffering – but the deeper unity of the Labour Party was clear last month,” he said.
Starmer loyalist Steve McCabe said some of his fellow Labour MPs had been on the receiving end of "quite an organised email campaign and I think it does spook people".
He told GB News: “It's easy to misread the kind of pressure MPs are under. I think the difficulty is that the people who purport to speak for the Muslim population in some areas are very loud, they are very organised, but they're not very representative.”
