Labour stands on the brink of a new internal crisis today, as Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner are being forced into another meeting with Muslim MPs and peers over the party’s stance over Palestine.
The Labour leadership is set to hold crisis talks with their troops after Prime Minister’s Questions, as one source claims the relationship is now “terminal”.
Sir Keir has been trying to walk a tightrope over the Israel-Gaza war since Hamas launched its bloodthirsty attack earlier this month, determined to signal to voters he is not Jeremy Corbyn while appeasing pro-Palestinian members.
The leadership has already haemorrhaged councillors, with over two dozen quitting the party in fury over Sir Keir’s stance.
In an LBC interview shortly after the war broke out, Sir Keir appeared to back Israel cutting off supplies, water and energy to the Gaza Strip.
One Labour MP has now told Politico they have received 1,000 emails from constituents, the majority of whom are not Muslim voters.
Another said Sir Keir’s handling of the row is “infuriating a lot of people”.
A shadow minister said: “It’s united MPs on the left, right and centre of the party … There’s no recognition that we are haemorrhaging Muslim votes massively, enough to lose seats if there was an election tomorrow.”
Ahead of the lunchtime showdown, a source told The Times: “They don’t want words but action… the relationship is becoming terminal.”
This morning, Labour frontbencher Darren Jones downplayed the crisis, describing this afternoon’s gathering as a “routine meeting” where people can raise concerns on behalf of their constituents.
He described Sir Keir’s position on Israel and Palestine as “right”.
It’s the second attempt in as many weeks by the Labour leadership to calm the internal civil war on the issue.
Last week, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Chief of Staff Sue Gray held a mass phone call with local leaders about the party’s messaging on Gaza, in response to warnings of mass councillor resignations.
The talks were described as “heated”, with Labour being warned they “only have days to act” to avoid such a crisis.
Despite Sir Keir’s obvious attempts since then to shift his focus onto backing more aid to Gaza, dozens of councillors and officials have now quit in disgust.
Six councillors in Oxford abandoned Sir Keir’s party, as well as fifteen Scottish Labour officers and a councillor in Bradford.
Sir Keir has also been warned he could lose control of Leicester Council for the first time in 16 years if the threatened resignations come to pass.
Last night the Labour leader sparked outrage after reportedly “gravely misrepresenting” his recent visit to an Islamic Centre in Wales.
Sir Keir claimed he had visited the South Wales Islamic Centre three days ago to hear from the Muslim community.
However the SWIC has since come out and slammed him for misleading people about his visit.
The Imam has said he “didn’t invite him or even know who he was”.
The centre’s leader also reportedly cried when explaining to a journalist he was “not aware of what Keir Starmer had said in support of genocide and war crimes”.
The centre added: “We wish to stress Keir Starmer’s social media post and images gravely misrepresented our congregants and the nature of the visit”.
