Unlock the Editor’s Digest without spending a dime
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly publication.
Former Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn is forming a loose coalition with 4 other pro-Palestinian independent MPs as he seeks to apply pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to take a stronger stance on the Israel-Hamas battle.
Corbyn, who stood and gained as an independent in Islington North after being ousted from the Labour party in May, met the 4 other MPs on Tuesday, in accordance to a number of folks current.
“It’s about finding as many allies as possible,” one of many folks stated, including that the group supposed to put ahead amendments to laws in an effort to pressure Starmer on points corresponding to UK arms gross sales to Israel.
The potential grouping of independents would equal the variety of Reform UK MPs and exceed the variety of Greens, who’ve 4 MPs and additionally had a pro-Palestinian platform on the basic election.
It is unclear how efficient the independents may be as a drive in parliament, given Labour’s big majority and their disparate coverage platforms.
Two of the independents — Ayoub Khan and Adnan Hussain — targeted predominantly on the battle in Gaza throughout their campaigns, whereas Corbyn and the others additionally campaigned on home points.
Khan and Iqbal Mohamed stated they had been eager to work with the other independents to combat for a stronger stance from the UK authorities on Gaza. The other MPs — Corbyn, Hussain, and Shockat Adam — didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The 5 MPs’ surprising wins have sparked recriminations inside Labour over its failure to deal with frustration on the social gathering in dozens of constituencies, a lot of which have giant Muslim populations.
Some senior Labour figures concern the brand new MPs will stoke additional division inside the social gathering and draw extra consideration to Starmer’s place and rhetoric on Gaza, which not all members agree on.
Starmer has been criticised by leftist teams and Muslim organisations for showing to condone Israel’s techniques in Gaza and for under step by step shifting the social gathering’s place in the direction of supporting a right away ceasefire. His reluctance to change stance led to 10 frontbenchers quitting in November.
A Labour spokesperson stated the social gathering’s place on the battle had been “clear and decisive”.
“We will continue to push for an immediate ceasefire, the return of hostages, an immediate increase in the volume of aid reaching civilians, and progress on a process for the two-state solution we all want to see,” they stated.
But some figures inside Labour have argued that Starmer didn’t do sufficient to rebut criticisms from pro-Palestinian activists through the marketing campaign, leaving a number of MPs to combat difficult campaigns the place they stated they confronted harassment and intimidation.
“It’s hard for those colleagues who faced those fights,” stated a senior Labour determine concerned within the marketing campaign.
Labour didn’t ship activists from out of city into six of the seats it misplaced in among the greatest surprises on election evening, together with shadow cupboard minister Jonathan Ashworth’s seat in Leicester South, in accordance to a Financial Times evaluation of the social gathering’s deployment of activists.
A senior Labour strategist concerned in an audit of the social gathering’s marketing campaign admitted “we did not see the problem” in Ashworth’s seat, which was misplaced by 979 votes to Adam.
Former shadow tradition secretary Thangam Debbonaire, who misplaced her Bristol seat to the Greens, stated on Wednesday that Labour’s “lack of a strong narrative” on Gaza had “had consequences” and the social gathering was “storing up trouble” for MPs.
This article has been amended after publication to appropriate the spelling of Ayoub Khan’s identify
