Sir Keir Starmer is facing a deepening Labour crisis after he sparked fury from some within the party over Israel comments.
The Labour leader appeared to suggest during an interview with LBC earlier this month that Israel had “the right” to withhold energy and water from Gaza following Hamas’s terror attacks.
He later denied backing Israel on withholding humanitarian aid from Gaza after his comments prompted a backlash from some Muslim Labour members.
But some 23 councillors have now resigned, while Labour MPs want more clarity, the Daily Mail reports.
A parliamentary source told the newspaper: “Over the past week, Starmer’s team started the fire by ignoring prominent MPs sounding the sirens around the LBC interview.
“Privately, Muslim MPs were furious and vocal with the leadership. Council resignations are continuing and the traditional vote bank has, in just a fortnight, collapsed.”
Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy was grilled on Sir Keir’s remarks during an appearance on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
But she struggled when pressed why it took the Labour leader nine days to clarify his comments.
Asked if she understands why some Muslim Labour members felt alienated by his comments, the shadow international development minister said: “I completely understand why people in the Muslim community are in extraordinary amounts of pain right now and heard those words and felt very concerned, and I’m glad that we’ve clarified that, I’m glad that we’ve been consistent about that.”
Pressed on whether Sir Keir will apologise, she said: “We can’t apologise for holding a position that we’ve never held.”
Ms Nandy repeatedly declined to say whether she believes Israel has broken international law by laying siege to Gaza.
She said: “I’m not going to sit in your studio and grandstand and tell you that I’m going to make big pronouncements about what Israel is and isn’t doing in what is a very complex, difficult situation#.
“Israel is still having rockets fired against its own people from a proscribed terrorist organisation and where you’ve got 200 hostages sitting in basements in Gaza who haven’t yet been released.
“What we’ve got to ensure is that international law is upheld.
“That’s why the 20 trucks that went into Gaza were very important yesterday, but not sufficient, and that’s why all of our efforts are focused on keeping that window open, keeping that crossing open and scaling up those efforts urgently.
“There is a humanitarian catastrophe looming for people in Gaza, and that’s where we’ve got to focus.”
