Fresh blow for Sir Keir Starmer as Scottish Labour openly defies him to vote for Gaza ceasefire
SIR Keir Starmer’s authority has been plunged into fresh turmoil after Scottish Labour voted to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
In a huge blow to the Labour leader, his party colleagues openly defied him to demand he change his stance on Israel.
It comes after a tricky week for Sir Keir, who has faced a furious backlash over delays in dumping two candidates for anti-Israel comments.
Labour had the bombshell recording of Azhar Ali and Graham Jones for 48 hours before suspending them.
Today, Scottish Labour voted unanimously at a Glasgow conference to call for an immediate ceasefire.
Its leader Anas Sarwar played down talk of a rift at the top of Labour.
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Speaking after, he said it was “pretty clear that Labour supports a ceasefire”.
But in another act of defiance, he suggested the party should back an SNP vote demanding an immediate military halt this week.
Sir Keir has so far stuck exactly to the Government’s line on Israel — calling for a “sustainable ceasefire” rather than an immediate one.
This saw mass resignations from his front bench late last year.
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Party insiders are braced for another rebellion and perhaps more resignations later this week.
A senior Labour frontbencher said: “People feel strongly. It will be tough.”
SIR Keir’s net ratings have dropped for the second week in a row, according to a new Opinium poll.
Just 28 per cent of voters say they approve of him, and 40 say they do not — giving him a score of minus 12. He dropped five points in a week.
QUIT FLIP ON LOSING HART
SIR Keir Starmer nearly quit as Labour leader after losing the Hartlepool by-election, a new book reveals.
He said the party was “going backwards” after the once rock-solid Red Wall seat fell to the Tories in May 2021.
His former adviser Chris Ward said: “Keir saw it as a personal rejection.”
Tom Baldwin’s book Keir Starmer: The Biography also claims he considered quitting Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet over the anti-Semitism scandal.