“For many of our constituents appalled by the genocide, the fatal words of Keir Starmer – that Israel had the right to cut off food, water, and electricity to Gaza – cannot be forgotten.”
By Apsana Begum MP
There has been much debate in the Labour Party over a recent essay written by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, outlining his suggestions for Labour government policy.
Conveniently for him, his policy suggestions align closely with those of the biggest donors to his Foundation.
One argument has slipped under the radar of the discussion. This is the one in which Blair argues that the UK must strongly support the decisions of the United States even where they are unpopular – in this case, pushing for UK assistance in the war on Iran.
It is my view and the view of so many of my constituents that is a moral failure that the Labour Party continues to not heed the lessons of the 2003 Iraq war. Blair’s war cost hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians their lives, destabilised the region with disastrous consequences, and, also, eroded trust in British politics for a generation.
In addition, the British public holds an increasingly negative view of the sycophancy towards the United States. They find Donald Trump particularly objectionable and see little to be gained from the relationship.
This does not of course negate the objective reality that the UK has close defence and security ties with the United States.
It is the case, however, that the British public struggle to understand why these ties should be so strong with a state and government that behaves in an increasingly aggressive, illegal, and unilateral way – from Iran to Venezuela, Cuba and elsewhere.
This contradiction – between the close state ties and the increasing public hostility to the US – has posed serious problems for this Labour Government.
Firstly, it was the strategy of appeasing Trump that led to the catastrophic and immoral decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as US Ambassador.
Like many, I believe that this strategy was a gamble by design, and that the Prime Minister may have thought that the high risks associated with Mandelson would pay off with key wins on trade talks or other important issues. It failed.
Secondly, this appeasement strategy also goes some way to explaining why the Labour government under Keir Starmer has been so poor on Palestine. Its foreign policies have been crafted to carefully avoid rebukes from the US. On sanctions, recognition, and even the very partial arms exports restrictions, every small measure put in place by this government has been met with fury by the US Executive.
Indeed, disclosures made in the High Court last year show that Ministers worried that a total suspension on arms sales would “undermine US confidence in the UK… and set back relations.”
But that does not give Labour an excuse not to meet the urgent moral and political demands arising from the genocide in Palestine. The government’s acceptance of what the US told them to do, or not to do, on arms sales has led to political catastrophe for the Labour Party. According to polling last month, for the largest share of 2024 Labour voters, allowing arms exports is the single worst thing that the government has done. Far more importantly, it has cost lives in Palestine.
With a membership and voter base which is strongly supportive of greater action in Gaza and the West Bank, it should be clear that any leadership hopeful will need to carefully consider how the UK can forge a foreign policy independent of the United States.
The Labour Party is yet to acknowledge with how devastatingly bad its foreign policy has been in relation to Palestine. For many of our constituents appalled by the genocide, the fatal words of Keir Starmer – that Israel had the right to cut off food, water, and electricity to Gaza – cannot be forgotten. But neither will the inaction that has followed those infamous words. Indeed, I wonder if it will ever be forgiven.
- Apsana Begum is the MP for Poplar and Limehouse and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow Apsana on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram and Tik Tok.
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