Labour’s only Muslim shadow cabinet minister is lobbying Sir Keir Starmer to take a more pro-Palestinian stance as the party’s leader comes under fresh pressure from MPs to back a ceasefire.
Shabana Mahmood, the shadow justice secretary, has been arguing internally for a shift in Labour’s official position on the conflict. Many MPs have approached Mahmood, the most senior Muslim in the party at Westminster, in their attempts for Starmer to change his position.
A total of 20 Labour-run councils are now backing a ceasefire, nine of which are in Andy Burnham’s region of Greater Manchester. Seven Labour councillors in Blackburn resigned yesterday, taking the total to 34.
A Labour Party source said: “Everyone in Westminster knows [Mahmood] has been asking the party to shift its position and everyone’s asking the same questions.”
Muslim MPs and peers are to hold fresh talks today to discuss how they can push the Labour leadership to back a ceasefire. The debate threatens to deepen the party’s divisions over the Israel-Gaza conflict and will pose a fresh challenge to Starmer’s authority.
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He and his aides have chosen not to clamp down on frontbenchers who have broken ranks to call for a ceasefire.
More than a dozen shadow ministers and a quarter of the party’s MPs have supported a shift in the party’s official position.
The Labour leader has turned a blind eye to several left-wing MPs who have spoken at pro-Palestine rallies in defiance of a party edict.
Muslim MPs and others have hailed Mahmood’s willingness to confront Starmer as a potentially key moment. She is a close ally of the Labour leader and an influential figure, having been behind a series of key by-election victories in her previous role as the party’s national campaign co-ordinator.
A total of 55 Labour MPs have publicly called for a ceasefire in Gaza, more than a quarter of the party’s 199 MPs.
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Starmer has refused to budge from his official position of supporting a “humanitarian pause” to allow water and other essential supplies to enter the Gaza strip, the same as the government’s line.
He has backed Israel’s right to defend itself and ensure Hamas is unable to mount a similar attack to its October 7 assault into southern Israel. Shadow cabinet ministers have supported him, including one who said those calling for a ceasefire had not “thought it through” and wanted “to let emotion dictate our response”.
Peter Kyle, the shadow secretary for science, said calls for a ceasefire were “ambiguous” because it was unclear what would be achieved.
He told the BBC: “Keir called for a humanitarian pause days ago. At around the same time the US was calling for it. Now the EU is calling for it and most of our global partners are calling for it. When you look at what is happening and unfolding the ... terrible situation that is unfolding ... is impacting individuals in a terrible way in Gaza.
“What they need now, today, is support. They need food, they need water, they need medicine, and they need fuel to power some of the hospital facilities there. We can do that right away, quickly, if we can agree to a humanitarian pause. Some of the calls for broader ceasefires, it’s too ambiguous to know what it means in practice.”
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Kyle said frontbenchers who had broken ranks were unlikely to be sacked and the leadership would “continue engaging” with those who disagreed with the official line.
He told Times Radio: “What Keir has done is listen to people within the party because it’s a strength of the Labour Party that we have people from both communities who ... have lived experience and connections to both communities currently engaged in this war.”
Jess Phillips, a shadow Home Office minister, is among 13 frontbenchers to break ranks to support a ceasefire. Imran Hussain, a minister in Angela Rayner’s team, is one of 39 Labour MPs to sign a parliamentary early day motion calling for “an immediate de-escalation and cessation of hostilities”.
A shadow cabinet minister who backs Starmer’s line said: “People are feeling pressure. They think a ceasefire would solve the conflict but people haven’t thought it through. You see ... children dying and you’re going to have an emotional reaction.”
An earlier version of this article said Andy McDonald MP chanted “Between the river and the sea, Palestine will be free” at a rally. In fact he said, “Until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea, can live in peaceful liberty”. We apologise for the error.
