Barry Gardiner has called on Sir Keir Starmer to take a “moral” stance on the escalating conflict in Gaza.
Speaking to PoliticsJOE, the Labour MP echoed calls from shadow ministers and the London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to take stock of the party’s position on the war in the Middle East.
Israeli troops advanced towards Gaza City today as the Palestinian death toll rose above 9,000.
With no end in sight after weeks of heavy fighting, US and Arab mediators have intensified efforts to ease Israel’s siege of the Hamas-ruled enclave and called for at least a brief halt to the hostilities in order to aid civilians.
So far, Sir Keir has been in step with other Western leaders, but Gardiner, who was a member of the shadow cabinet under former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, says that doesn’t go far enough.
He said: “My difference with Keir on this is he says a ceasefire leaves the situation frozen, he says it freezes the situation as it was, it doesn’t move things forward.
“Actually that’s precisely what a humanitarian pause does. A humanitarian pause freezes the situation and allows people to get something to eat, allows them to get supplies in but then we just resume the conflict.
“I feel that’s a counsel of despair and I don’t think that’s our job as politicians.
“I think we have to put on international pressure both on the government of Israel and on Hamas to actually engage in a ceasefire.
“Now ceasefires only come with huge international pressure building up behind them and so far apart from the Secretary-General of the United Nations and all the major aid agencies it hasn’t come from a political source.
“I recognise it’s difficult to move when Joe Biden and the Americans haven’t moved.
“But actually that’s one of the luxuries of opposition, you can take moral leadership in a situation like this.
“Because a ceasefire can be really helpful in moving things forward and that’s what I really think our party needs to grasp.”
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