Labour Starmer Facing Pressure From Muslim MPs To Call For Halt To Fighting

Keir Starmer has conceded to Labour Muslim MPs that his visit to a south Wales mosque could have been handled better, the Guardian understands, as he faces Aletha Adu mounting pressure from all wings of the party to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

- Aletha Adu 

The shadow women and equalities minister, Yasmin Qureshi, publicly broke Labour ranks yesterday and urged Rishi Sunak to call for a ceasefire during prime minister's questions. She said the people of Gaza were subject to "collective punishment" for "crimes they did not commit".

Many in Labour feared that Qureshi risked losing the whip for her comments. But in a sign that the leadership had acknowledged the deepening fractures across the party, a Labour spokesperson said: "If I heard the question correctly...

she was asking the prime minister what the conditions were that would lead the prime minister to support a ceasefire." The Labour leader and his deputy, Angela Rayner, met with at least 12 Muslim politicians on Wednesday afternoon, who stressed that his positioning on the Israel-Hamas conflict was causing distress to many within the party.

Those in attendance were said to have argued that the disappointment felt by many in the party amounted to much more than a "Jewish-Muslim community issue", the Guardian understands.