Tory row after Cameron suggests Palestinian state to help resolve Gaza conflict

David Cameron has been criticised by several Conservative MPs after he suggested the UK would consider recognising a Palestinian state.

The Foreign Secretary said on Monday Palestinians should be offered a “political horizon” towards a two-state solution and that the British government “should be starting to set out what a Palestinian state would look like”.

Former Tory Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers said the comments were “disturbing” while her Conservative colleague Michael Ellis, another former minister, said the move would “reward Hamas’ atrocities”.

Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell insisted the UK government’s policy on pursuing a two-state solution, which would be to recognise a Palestinian state when both sides in the Middle East agreed, had not changed.

Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that the Hamas 7 October atrocities showed that the notion of a two-state solution should be rejected – despite objections from London and Washington.

Lord Cameron, who is embarking on a second trip to the Middle East in two weeks amid signs of a possible pause in fighting in Gaza, told a reception on Monday evening that Palestinians should be able to see “a political horizon so that they can see that there is going to be irreversible progress to a two-state solution”.

He added: “We should be starting to set out what a Palestinian state would look like – what it would comprise, how it would work. As that happens, we, with allies, will look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations. This could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible.”

Ms Villiers, the MP for Chipping Barnet, told the Commons: “It’s really disturbing that BBC online is reporting that the Foreign Secretary (David Cameron) has changed the UK Government’s approach on recognition of a Palestinian state. Will the minister agree with me that bringing forward and accelerating unilateral recognition of Palestinian state would be to reward Hamas’ atrocities?”

And Sir Michael said: “The Palestinian authorities’ grip on security control across the West Bank has been pushed out by the benevolent forces of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and local terror groups funded by Iran.

“Wouldn’t unilateral recognition of Palestinian state now risk equipping those dangerous actors I just mentioned with the trimmings and capabilities of a state?”

Mr Mitchell said: “There is no question of rewarding Hamas for the appalling acts they perpetrated in a pogrom on October 7. But the point the Foreign Secretary has been making is that we must give the people of the West Bank and Gaza a credible route to a Palestine state and a new future, but we must do so when the time is right.”

He added: “The British Government has always made it clear we intend to recognise a Palestinian state when the timing is right.

“He will have seen the comments of the Foreign Secretary last night, which in no way deviate from that policy, but the Foreign Secretary is pointing out how important it is to ensure that people can see that when a political track gets going, real progress can be made.”

The UK policy on a two state solution is based on 1967 boundaries between Israel and Palestinian territories, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, and with guarantees on security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians.

Conservative MP for Buckingham Greg Smith said the “grim reality” was that “Hamas does not seek a ceasefire and Israel cannot be reasonably expected to pursue one with a group that actively seeks its destruction”.

He added: “The only political solution must be the elimination of Hamas and the release of the hostages.”

Stephen Crabb, another Conservative former cabinet minister, asked Mr Mitchell: “So long as you’ve got Hamas clinging on in Gaza, Hamas doesn’t believe in a two state solution, they believe in killing and raping Jews, so long as you’ve got Fatah barely able to control the West Bank and Israel which is still in trauma, they’re still trying to get 130 hostages, including babies, back from Gaza – what does he think that talk about early recognition of Palestinian statehood can achieve?”

Mr Mitchell insisted there is “no change in the policy” and that “he is right to say that Hamas must agree to the release of all hostages, Hamas can no longer be in charge of Gaza, and also that we need an agreement in order to provide governance, service and security, which will involve the Palestinian Authority”.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said Labour had supported recognition of Palestinian state for the past decade.

Mr Lammy said that statehood was “the inalienable right of the Palestinian people” adding: “I welcome the Foreign Secretary, adopting this position and rejecting the notion that recognition can only follow the conclusion of negotiations.”