A member of Labour’s frontbench has resigned “with a heavy heart” over the party’s position on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Imran Hussain, MP for Bradford East, said he could no longer “sufficiently in all good conscience” serve as a shadow levelling up minister as he wanted to be a strong advocate for a ceasefire.
“Over recent weeks, it has become clear that my view on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza differs substantially from the position you have adopted,” Hussain said in a resignation letter to the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, published on social media.
“A ceasefire is essential to ending the bloodshed, to ensuring that enough aid can pass into Gaza and reach those most in need, and to help ensure the safe return of the Israeli hostages.”
He said he had been proud to work alongside Starmer and his deputy, Angela Rayner, in developing a plan for employment rights, but could not “in all good conscience” push for a cessation of hostilities while remaining part of the frontbench.
Since the Guardian reported about the first 20 councillors who were ready to quit the party last month over Starmer’s comments on LBC and the party’s position, many frontbenchers who represent constituencies with large Muslim communities had been on resignation watch. Those constituencies included Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester and Leeds.
Despite Starmer’s efforts to clarify the comments he made during an LBC interview in which he said Israel “has the right” to withhold power and water from Gaza, Hussain said the party leader’s comments had left him “deeply troubled”.
I want to be able to strongly advocate for a ceasefire, as called for by the UN General Secretary. In order to be fully free to do so, I have tonight stepped down from Labour's Frontbench.
— Imran Hussain MP (@Imran_HussainMP) November 7, 2023
My letter below: pic.twitter.com/u47KMVNhxt
“I have unequivocally condemned Hamas’s attacks of 7 October and I firmly agree that every country has the right to defend itself. This however can never become a right to deliberately violate international law on protecting civilians or to commit war crimes,” he wrote.
Hussain ultimately wants the party to go further and call for a ceasefire, and he is joined by at 15 other Labour frontbenchers who have either called for a ceasefire or shared others’ demands for a ceasefire on social media, including Yasmin Qureshi and Jess Phillips.
Asked if Labour MPs had been told not to attend pro-Palestine marches this weekend, the shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: “We’ve been told we need to be careful that we don’t end up alongside people where there may be banners or language being used that is unacceptable, and sadly there have been incidents on some of these marches where that has happened. I appreciate that it’s not the majority of people who want to demonstrate.”
Pressed on Hussain’s views on whether Israel had breached international law, Phillipson said all Labour MPs “have to tread with a degree of caution”, adding that “Imran has reached his own decision”.
Starmer had sought on Friday to portray the party as unified in its position on the Israel-Hamas conflict, insisting that calls for a ceasefire and humanitarian pauses were “coming from the same place”.
Hussain’s resignation puts Starmer’s leadership under strain. A number of senior Labour MPs do not feel his comments on the Middle East conflict this week have done enough to “hold the parliamentary Labour party together”, given the “level of anger within Labour’s grassroots”.
The Labour leader has argued that a ceasefire would freeze the status quo and that Hamas’s murder of 1,400 people on 7 October and the group’s stated intention to strike again and again makes this untenable.
Starmer has followed the White House in calling for humanitarian pauses to allow aid to get into Gaza. Labour backs a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
Senior Labour figures, including the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, and the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, have also challenged Starmer’s stance.
The Labour leader of Burnley borough council resigned along with 10 other councillors in protest at Starmer’s refusal to call for a ceasefire; while at least 330 Labour councillors have signed a letter urging Starmer to back a ceasefire.
The Labour leadership has sought to toughen its line towards Israel. David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, after visiting the region, said the “number of dead Palestinian civilians and children is shocking” as he called on Israel to take further steps to stop a “humanitarian catastrophe”, including a pause in the fighting.
Lammy said Israel “must uphold international law” and also warned of violence in the West Bank.
