Keir Starmer faces more Labour resignations over Gaza bloodshed as leader is warned ‘we can’t lie in bed with the Tories’ over war and MPs face protests outside their offices in areas with large Muslim populations
Keir Starmer has been warned he could face yet more Labour frontbench resignations over his refusal to back a full ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Ten frontbenchers quit on Wednesday night in order to defy him and vote for a permanent end to fighting that has claimed thousands of lives.
But others who obeyed orders to sit out the vote remain restless, with some suggesting they could still walk.
Many who toed the party line have faced protests in their constituencies, including Bethnal Green and Bow MP Rushanara Ali, whose constituency office was targeted.
The shadow minister for small businesses has called for a ceasefire but did not vote for one in the division called by the SNP. She told the Guardian on Wednesday night: ‘Leaving the shadow government is something I am always willing to do, which is why I completely respect the decisions taken by my fellow MPs today.
‘The moment I feel my presence is less positively impactful than my absence, I will do so.’
Jess Phillips, the shadow minister for domestic violence, was among the frontbenchers who either quit or were sacked so they could back a ceasefire in a Commons vote.
Ten frontbenchers quit on Wednesday night in order to defy him and vote for a permanent end to fighting that has claimed thousands of lives.
Many who toed the party line have faced protests in their constituencies, including Bethnal Green and Bow MP Rushanara Ali (top), whose constituency office was targeted (above)
A total of 56 Labour MPs defied their party leader’s position of advocating for pauses in fighting so they could support a cessation.
Sir Keir, who is on the second day of a visit to Scotland today, has refused to give ground on his backing for time-limited humanitarian pauses in the fighting instead of a ceasefire.
But a source told the Guardian: ‘We can’t lie in bed with the Conservative Party, whom you’re saying need to be ousted.’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will travel to Aberdeen where he will pledge to make Britain a ‘clean energy superpower’.
His trip comes after a bruising week for the Opposition leader amid the backdrop if unending fighting in Gaza triggered by Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack.
Since Israel started striking back the Gazan health ministry – run by the Palestinian militant group – says more than 11,470 people have been killed in the territory.
Ms Phillips, the shadow minister for domestic violence, was one of those to leave her post to support a ceasefire call in the Commons.
The Birmingham Yardley MP has since said that she wants to be ‘an asset’ to Sir Keir from the backbenches and hinted that he could bring her back onto the front bench.
She told The News Agents podcast: ‘One of the things Keir Starmer, did say to me yesterday was ‘I need people like you to help me deliver the missions that we have coming up with together you and I, Jess’.
‘And I said ‘Then you have me’.’
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