Labour splits over Gaza ceasefire calls set to widen despite Keir Starmer facing down rebels, insiders warn

Labour splits over the Gaza war could intensify with more MPs calling for a ceasefire and Sir Keir Starmer facing more direct criticism, insiders warned despite the Labour leader’s attempts to heal divides.

But the Labour leader appeared to have avoided a full blown civil war after the Shadow Cabinet’s effective spokeswoman for pro-ceasefire MPs made clear she would not quit.

The Labour leader faced down party rebels who reject his policy on the Israel-Hamas conflict in a speech on Tuesday where he insisted that his backing for a “humanitarian pause” to allow aid into the Gaza Strip was the “only credible approach” because a ceasefire would “embolden” Hamas and “freeze” the conflict with the militant group capable of launching another 7 October-style terror attack.

But in an attempt to heal the rebellion which has seen a dozen shadow ministers speak out against his position and others lobby privately for a policy change, he suggested he would back a ceasefire once Israeli, British and other hostages are released by Hamas and the militants’ power has been broken.

And he took a harder line on Israel, insisting it cannot have a “blank cheque” to do whatever it wants in self defence, while stressing settlements in the West Bank were “unacceptable, awful” and have “to stop”.

As he refused to deny he was taking advice from Sir Tony Blair on the conflict, Sir Keir was also backed by the ex-prime minister’s ally Lord Mandelson, who told the How to Win an Election podcast that calls for a ceasefire were “ridiculous” because “we have to defeat cold blooded murderers”.

But while Sir Keir appeared to have avoided triggering a full blown civil war as the Shadow Cabinet’s only Muslim member, Shabana Mahmood, made clear she was not going to resign, he was warned that the revolt may grow if and when more civilians are killed in Gaza.

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A Labour MP said Sir Keir, whose speech triggered a small pro-Palestine protest at the door, had “nothing to say” about the civilians being killed by Israeli bombing in a speech full of “scripted empathy”.

The MP said that colleagues had so far stuck to calling for a ceasefire rather than directly attacking Sir Keir due to the seriousness of the situation.

“That won’t necessarily last forever though,” the MP warned.

“Because people will get more and more frustrated, and if things get worse in Gaza as we unfortunately predict, then people’s attitudes and self-discipline on that could recede.”

After Alex Cunningham became the latest frontbencher to call for a ceasefire less than an hour before Sir Keir’s speech, a Labour insider said at least three more Labour MPs were set to join the calls this week.

The insider, who supports Sir Keir’s position, said they had endured “horrible meetings with the Muslim community” this week and that the speech did not change anything.

“We are just going to have to live with being divided for a while, until the situation changes,” the insider added.

A second party insider said any MP with a large number of Muslim voters and members locally would be concerned.

“I think it’s a big problem and bigger than Keir’s team realise and one they clearly didn’t see coming,” the insider said.

“I fear we’ve dug a deeper hole for ourselves than we realise”