Would Starmer Win A No Confidence Vote Now?
If the U.K.’s Bernie is Jeremy Corbyn, the current Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is Biden. First elected to Parliament in 2015, Labour leader Corbyn appointed him Shadow Minister for Immigration. The following year Starmer resigned as Shadow Minister— along with other right-of-center ministers— to undermine Corbyn and force a new election for leader. Corbyn won overwhelmingly (62%) and he made the mistake of re-appointing the treacherous and sleazy Starmer to the shadow cabinet again.
The Labour civil war helped the Conservatives win an overwhelming majority in the general election which, in turn, caused Cornyn to step down as party leader. Starmer finagled his way into the position and immediately began moving the party right quickly abandoning the socialist platform he ran on— including pledges to nationalize public utilities, scrap tuition fees, and defend free movement within the EU. He also began blocking leftist candidates in local elections. Starmer’s Labour party lost 100,000 members and stunk of Islamaphobia and racism. Corbyn is still in Parliament, but was kicked out of the party by Starmer and now sits as an independent. But he was busy moving the party right and counting on making the lesser evil in comparison to the Conservatives. Today few people like Labour but they hate the Conservatives more.
Corbyn is a leader of a movement for peace in the Middle East that is in sharp contrast to Starmer’s no holds barred pro-Netanyahu policies— even as Netanyahu embarks on a “holy war” of ethnic cleansing and genocide. There are more than a few members of Labour who are opposing Starmer’s position, which has been to back the Conservatives’ policies. Over a dozen shadow ministers are opposing Starmer on this, including Afzal Khan (Shadow Minister for Exports), Rushanara Ali (Shadow Minister for Investment and Small Businesses), Andy Slaughter (Shadow Minister for England and Wales), Jess Phillips (Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence), Rachel Hopkins (Shadow Minister for Veterans), Naz Shah (Shadow Minister for Crime Reduction), Sara Owen (Shadow Minister for Local Government), Labour Party General Secretary Paul Barker, Florence Eshalomi (Shadow Minister for Democracy) and Labour whip Kim Leadbeater. Other Labour politicians demanding that the party back a ceasefire include London Mayor Sadiq Khan (who has won the most votes of any Labour politician in the country), Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, and Labour’s Scottish leader Anas Sarwar.
Over half of the Labour members of Parliament oppose Starmer’s position; he claims he’s “listening” to the protests. He’s already lost the confidence of Muslim voters, an essential part of Labour’s coalition. The Independent reported that councillors are quitting the party and local parties are passing motions in favor of a ceasefire. “A YouGov survey found that 42 per cent of 2019 Labour voters think Sir Keir has handled his response to the conflict badly, while only 26 per cent think he has responded well.”
One Labour MP said Mr Starmer had made a “catastrophic decision” to stick with Israel “unconditionally”— arguing that it had alienated millions of voters. “He’s got himself into a serious mess,” they said.
The backbencher told The Independent: “There is an existential threat to a lot of Labour seats with a large number of Muslims voters. I know it’s about a humanitarian disaster – but people do count numbers and worry about their seats. There are MPs on the right of the party and soft left who are very uneasy.”
They added: “A wide group are really, really unhappy. I would say around 100 MPs [want a ceasefire]. The numbers are moving away from him [Sir Keir] quite rapidly. So I can’t see how the position will hold, especially if there’s wider escalation in the conflict.”
…While more than 50 MPs have gone public with their support for a ceasefire, many more are believed to be unhappy – and four shadow cabinet ministers are reportedly on resignation watch as the leadership battles to shore up support for the position.
Another Labour MP said there were “easily” 100 MPs who wanted to change the position. They added: “I fear there will be people around Starmer telling him he needs to stick to backing the US and Israel – telling him he has to be willing to burn our base.”
Over 300 Labour councillors have now signed an open letter to Sir Keir backing calls for a ceasefire. And the Romford Constituency Labour Party (CLP) voted unanimously for a motion backing a ceasefire and opposing an Israeli ground invasion – the first CLP to do so.
Party sources made clear the Labour leader was not about to change his position on Friday despite the revolt from the mayors in London and Greater Manchester and the Scottish party leader.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Of course, we understand why people want to call for a ceasefire. The Palestinian people are not Hamas, and they are suffering terribly. That’s why we support humanitarian pauses ... We also have to recognise Israel was subject to a vile terrorist attack. Israel has a right and a duty to defend itself.”
Meanwhile, ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed pro-Palestine protesters in Parliament Square on Saturday. He was scathing about the government’s decision to abstain on a UN general assembly vote on a humanitarian truce. “It is an eternal stain that the British government abstained on that vote,” said Mr Corbyn.
