Chaos in UK Parliament as Labour’s Keir Starmer moves to avert party rebellion on Gaza ceasefire

A last-minute intervention by Labour leader Keir Starmer to head off a major rebellion within his party over a Gaza ceasefire vote has plunged the UK’s House of Commons into chaos.

Starmer, who in the past has said that he “support[s] Zionism without qualification,” was facing the biggest crisis of his leadership as up to 100 Labour MPs threatened to defy orders and vote for an immediate ceasefire unless the party brought forward its own amendment to a ceasefire motion drafted by the Scottish National Party (SNP).

The chaos followed weeks of pressure on Starmer over Gaza. His initial refusal to back an immediate ceasefire last November triggered Labour’s biggest rebellion under his leadership. Labour had whipped its MPs to vote against a November SNP motion calling for an immediate ceasefire. Fifty-six Labour MP’s defied Starmer to vote in support of the motion including Jess Phillips, who resigned in November as a shadow minister to vote with the SNP.

With Israel under investigation by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for possible genocide in Gaza and civilian deaths topping 30,000 a second refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire threated a major rebellion.

In a dramatic move, Starmer personally visited Speaker of the House Lindsay Hoyle and warned him that refusing to allow a vote on Labour’s amendment could endanger MPs, an allegation which critics have slammed. They argue that Starmer weaponised fear to undermine the democratic process. Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Tory MP Derek Thomas said he does not “necessarily buy” the argument that the Labour vote was allowed because of concerns for MPs’ safety.

After a tense meeting, Hoyle, who broke with convention to visit Israel with far-right Israeli envoy, Tzipi Hotovely, following the 7 October attack, agreed to permit votes on both Labour and government amendments calling for a ceasefire. The shock decision broke parliamentary precedent and brought fury from Tory and SNP MPs. But it allowed Labour to avoid any rebellion as the government amendment passed easily. Hoyle has since apologised but many are calling for his resignation.

Labour’s own amendment calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” still faced criticism from some MPs for containing numerous caveats. The SNP drafts had simply called for an immediate ceasefire, but the final version set out specific conditions about when one could realistically happen. Some backbenchers complained the language had been excessively watered down and weakened.

Critics have argued that Labour’s amendment is disingenuous and plays with words to appear as though it’s calling for a ceasefire without actually calling for a ceasefire.

Read: UK MP shocked by scale of Israel’s Gaza genocide after returning from Sinai