Good riddance to Keir Starmer

Martin Shipton

Keir Starmer has convinced himself that decisions he has taken should set Andy Burnham up for victory whenever he decides to call the next general election.

He’s clearly delusional – if Burnham wins the next general election, it will be despite Starmer, not because of him.

Expanding on his theme during a BBC interview, Starmer’s first fallacious claim was that as leader of the opposition he had dealt with Labour’s antisemitism problem.

In fact, as has been amply demonstrated in particular by the investigative journalist Paul Holden in his book The Fraud, the party’s “antisemitism problem” was grossly exaggerated and weaponised in order to undermine and ultimately remove his predecessor as leader Jeremy Corbyn and move Labour to the right.

In undermining Corbyn, Starmer complied with the wishes of Israel, for whom the left-wing former party leader’s support for the Palestinian cause was anathema.

We have seen during Starmer’s two-year premiership how he has continued to serve the interests of Israel, even as it has committed the most appalling war crimes.

There’s a brilliant book by Peter Oborne called Complicit, that sets out in detail how the UK has assisted Israel in carrying out its genocide in Gaza. Shockingly, but not surprisingly given the ownership of most media companies, the book has not been reviewed by any mainstream media outlets. The reason, of course, is that most such outlets have for many decades had resolute support for Israel as their default policy position.

For many years such a position was sustainable because of the dominance of the pro-Israel perspective in the media. But the horrific footage from Gaza that flooded social media for months on end, coupled with the clearly expressed view of respected international bodies that a genocide was underway, persuaded many that what their eyes revealed to them was the truth.

Oborne’s book produces compelling evidence of how the UK has helped Israel to destroy Gaza by supplying aircraft components that have assisted in the bombing of innocent civilians, as well as providing surveillance intelligence to the IDF.

Just as important, and arguably more so, has been the diplomatic support given to Israel by the UK Government. Starmer has refused to accept that a genocide has been under way or that war crimes have been committed. He has been critical of the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue warrants for the arrest of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant – thus undermining the UK’s reputation as a defender of the international judicial order.

And of course there is the vexed issue of permitting an Israeli company, Elbit Systems, to develop weapon systems in the UK for use against Palestinian civilians. Direct action taken against Elbit Systems by the group Palestine Action led to the then Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper proscribing the organisation under the same anti-terrorism legislation used against groups like Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. In turn this has led to the arrest of thousands of peace activists, many elderly and some disabled, for supporting a terrorist organisation.

The decision to proscribe Palestine Action was political and in line with the demands of Israel. Seeking to criminalise protesters whose only motivation is to prevent the death of innocents, is an absolute disgrace, as Starmer should be aware.

At the same time, more than 2,000 UK nationals joined the IDF and served in Gaza during the invasion. Not one, so far as can be ascertained, has been questioned about what they did and whether they engaged in war crimes.

The failure of the UK Government – and of Starmer in particular – to condemn the actions of the IDF in Gaza has undoubtedly helped to embolden Israel’s far right government into believing it has absolute impunity to do as it likes, however murderous the activity may be.

Perverse

For someone with a past as a human rights lawyer, Starmer’s stance on the whole Palestinian issue seems perverse. Oborne – no left wing journalist: he previously worked for the Mail, the Telegraph and the Spectator – has no doubt that he is complying with the wishes / demands of the Israelis.

In his powerful final chapter, Oborne writes:

“Damn you Keir Starmer. Damn you Rishi Sunak. Damn you Lammy, Cameron, Cleverly. A second damn for Lammy for shaking Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloodstained hand.

“Damn you Lindsay Hoyle, Commons Speaker who wrecked a ceasefire motion and got Starmer off the hook.

“Damn the Foreign Office officials who put their pensions before Palestinian lives.

“Shame on the British military which trained, advised and supported the genocidal Israeli army. Damn you Admiral Sir Tony Radakin. As chief of the defence staff you had the power to stop this.

“Damn the arms manufacturers who have profited from supplying the Israeli military. Damn you BAE Systems, profiteers from death.

“Damn the special relationship. It’s led Britain into a cesspit.

“Damn the politicians and journalists who never reported on or cared about the deaths of Palestinian journalists targeted and killed by Israel.”

The damning goes on.

There are now concerns about a piece of legislation currently going through the Westminster Parliament called the National Security (State Threats) Bill. Supposedly intended to crack down further on proscribed organisations, critics say it could result in journalists facing prosecution if they obtain information from groups banned by the UK Government. Unsurprisingly, this is viewed as a threat to press freedom that should not be tolerated.

It’s further evidence of Starmer’s authoritarian inclinations – and another step away from liberal democracy.

National humiliation

If his support for Israel is an immoral disgrace that has tarnished the UK’s reputation, perhaps irreparably, his sucking up to Trump is a national humiliation. This week we have heard how the pharmaceutical trade deal negotiated with the US will cost us billions and could result in thousands of unnecessary deaths.

An article based on a paper published by the British Medical Journal and reported on by the Guardian states: “The NHS will have to divert £45bn from essential services to pay for new medicines under the terms of the UK-US trade deal agreed last December, leading to more than 200,000 avoidable deaths of patients, analysis has found.

“Ministers have defended the deal as a way of helping British drug exports to the US avoid tariffs, and giving patients in England access to potentially life-extending drugs that would otherwise be denied.

“But they have been accused of caving in to US demands to spend billions of pounds a year extra on drugs supplied to the NHS after pressure from Donald Trump. The potentially devastating impact on NHS care has also caused growing alarm among health experts.”

Client state

Some historians argue that Britain is a client state of the US and as part of the deal we have to support Israel up to the hilt. Starmer’s behaviour lends credibility to such a view. Has Brexit made such a position more difficult for us to extricate ourselves from? Without a doubt.

Can we expect better from Andy Burnham? Let’s hope so. He should promise a referendum on rejoining the EU in Labour’s next general election manifesto and a change in the electoral system to STV.

And despite his past membership of Labour Friends of Israel – it’s unclear whether he’s still affiliated to it – Burnham’s government should stop supporting its current crop of war criminals and press for Netanyahu to be sent to The Hague.

Meanwhile, good riddance to Keir Starmer.