(Bloomberg) -- Three senior Labour politicians called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to allow humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, interventions that will add to pressure on leader Keir Starmer to shift his stance on the conflict.
Sadiq Khan, a Muslim who has been Mayor of London since 2016, said the situation in Gaza is making it impossible to deliver aid. “A widespread military escalation will only deepen the humanitarian disaster,” he said on Friday in a video posted on the social media platform X, formally Twitter. “No nation, including Israel, has the right to break international law.”
Hours later, Anas Sarwar, another Muslim who leads Labour's Scottish wing, posted his own video with a similar message. He called for the “immediate cessation of violence, with an end of rocket fire into and out of Gaza. And let me be clear, that means a ceasefire right now.”
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham then added to the calls of his party colleagues, issuing a statement with local leaders that recognized Israel's right to take “targeted” action while adding their “profound concerns about the loss of thousands of innocent lives in Gaza, the displacement of many more and widespread suffering through the ongoing blockade of essential goods and services” and calling also for a ceasefire.
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The interventions from three such senior party figures pile pressure on Starmer to shift his stance on the conflict. So far, he's aligned Labour with the British and US governments in calling for “pauses” in the fighting rather than a full ceasefire, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's team has said would benefit Hamas.
Hamas is designated a terrorist group by the European Union, the UK and the US.
It's a balancing act that political leaders across the spectrum in the UK are grappling with as they seek to contain community tensions strained by the conflict. But it's particularly challenging for Starmer, in part because many British Muslims have traditionally voted for Labour. The center-left party's attention on human rights and the plight of Palestinians is also a major factor.
The legacy of Starmer's predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, also looms large in how the British media analyzes Labour's response. Allegations of anti-Semitism dominated Labour under Corbyn, who shared platforms with Hamas supporters before he became leader, and undermined the push for power.
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Starmer's approach appears aimed at preventing that criticism of Labour re-emerging, especially from a right-wing press that would likely jump on any sense that the opposition party was undermining the Conservative government.
But he's faced internal party criticism for more than two weeks now after remarks he made in an LBC interview appeared to give his backing Israel's “right” to cut off power and water from Gaza. The Labour leader later argued the comment had been misinterpreted, saying he did not mean to back a siege.
Still, the interventions of Khan, Sarwar and Burnham show the pressure is not going away, even though serious protest against Starmer has so far been limited to the resignation of some local councilors rather than members of his own top team.
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