A group of north London councillors have quit Labour in fury at Sir Keir Starmer's stance on Gaza as a grassroots rebellion in the party threatens to boil over.
Three members of Haringey council, the town hall in shadow foreign secretary David Lammy's constituency, resigned to form the Independent Socialist Group on Tuesday. Mark Blake, Lotte Collett and Mary Mason said they were protesting the Labour leader's refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, the "exclusion" of former leader Jeremy Corbyn from the party and what they described as the "abandonment" of progressive pledges.
Sir Keir is under fresh pressure after Imran Hussain became the first frontbencher to quit over the party's calls for a "humanitarian pause" rather than a full suspension of hostilities in Gaza.
The Bradford East MP announced he was resigning his role as shadow minister for the new deal for working people late on Tuesday night.
He said he wanted to "strongly advocate" for a ceasefire in Gaza and could not do so "in all good conscience from the front bench given its current position".
"It has become clear that my view on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza differs substantially from the position you have adopted," Mr Hussain said in his resignation letter to Sir Keir. But party insiders insisted the revolts would not change the leadership's stance on the Israel - Hamas war.
Labour's official position is to call for a "humanitarian pause" to allow much needed aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.
"Obviously Keir totally understands the calls for a ceasefire but resignations will not change his stance on this," a Labour source said.
"How can he support a ceasefire when Hamas would not adhere to one?"
The Labour leader has been grappling to maintain discipline over the conflict in the Middle East. Around a third of his MPs, including at least 16 shadow ministers, Sadiq Khan and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, have now publicly supported a ceasefire.
Dozens of councillors across the country have also quit the party after the Labour leader infuriated some members when, in an interview with LBC on October 11, he said Israel had “the right” to cut power and water from Gaza when defending itself from Hamas.
Labour lost its majority on Oxford council when nine councillors resigned the whip, with some going on to form the Oxford Socialist Independents.
Sir Keir later clarified that he did not support Israel committing war crimes. In a statement, the new Haringey Independent Socialist group, said: "For us matters were brought to a head by the most recent events in Palestine and Israel and Labour's apparent inability to call for a ceasefire.
"No injustice, no matter how heinous, in this case the October 7 incursion into Israel by Hamas, can ever be used as an excuse to commit another.
"Keir Starmer has provided unequivocal support for Israeli military action in Gaza, upheld its so-called right to deny Palestinians food, water, medicine and electricity...
"The leadership of the Labour Party should be calling for an immediate ceasefire but Keir Starmer and Tottenham MP David Lammy will not make such a call, hiding behind the fig leaf of a 'humanitarian pause'."
In a statement, Haringey Labour said: "With a strong Labour majority on Haringey council, we will continue to serve our residents as Labour councillors.The right and proper thing for Haringey's former Labour councillors to do is resign immediately and let local people decide who represents them."
