Tag: Andy Burnham

Will the UK’s attitude to Israel change?


Will the new prime minister really make significant changes?

Vigil #136

July 2026

Questions, questions, which are posed following the near certainty of Andy Burnham becoming the new prime minister of Britain and his stated apologies for the UK’s uncritical support of Israel and its genocidal actions in Gaza. It is one thing to offer Israel support and sympathy after the horrific attack on October 7th but quite another to continue to offer such support while the destruction of Gaza took place including the near total demolition of medical facilities, schools and other public facilities. The deliberate killing of children, over 20,000 so far – not as an accidental consequence of military action but as a matter of stated policy – is unsupportable yet our nation has continued to support it.

We noted in a previous post that Mr Burnham waited until he had the succession in the bag so to speak, before making this announcement and wondered if this was because he was mindful of the huge number of MPs who are members of a Friends of Israel group – 69 of whom are in his own party and over 200 in the House of Commons as a whole – as well as the powerful influence Israeli lobbying has over our media including the BBC. If this is correct, the question becomes will he be able to follow through? If he did not feel comfortable with promising a reset because of fears of a lobbying backlash, how likely is it he can withstand this influence and lobbying once he gets into No 10?

It is to be questioned how an MP and more particularly senior ministers – which includes shockingly, Sir Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and David Lammy – be members and act impartially as a minister. Whom do they serve? A question asked of the Salisbury MP, Mr John Glen a ‘proud’ member of the much larger Conservative Friends of Israel, which he said was unworthy of an answer. Sir Keir’s support which emerged when he made the quite disgraceful comment that Israel was justified in cutting off water and power to Gaza, led in part to his defenestration as prime minister.

Vigil 136

Picture courtesy of Peter Gloyns

About 30 attended the latest vigil on a hot evening. Quite a lot of support and thumbs up signs and passers by taking pictures, One offensive gesture noticed. Recognition was again quite high. No sign of Mr Glen and no mention of the vigil in his weekly column in the Salisbury Journal.

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Andy Burnham’s Apology: A Shift in Labour’s Gaza Stance?


Andy Burnham apologises for Labour’s stance on Gaza

July 2026

In numerous posts we have commented on the war in Gaza and more recently in Lebanon, and noted the shameful approach by the British government under Sir Keir Starmer the departing prime minister. We commented on the arms sales which continued despite the terrible events, the diplomatic support for Israel, the hundreds of overflights of Gaza by the RAF, the continued support for Elbit Systems and prosecution of those who call out this support and call for the recognition of Palestine.

It now seems that the likely new prime minister, Andy Burnham (image: Middle East Eye), has recognised these errors and has announced that the party ‘didn’t get it right’ and ‘we need to do better’. If this is carried through into policy then it will be very welcome. What no one has picked up in the media is the timing of this announcement which came on the day that nominations closed for the leadership election. Could this be a fear of the hundreds of MPs who are members of the Friends of Israel groups?

Sir Keir Starmer alienated many of his supporters by his approach to Israel. His statement that Israel had every right to cut off water and power shocked many and attempts to back track never really healed the damage. It showed a politician desperate to shake off the ‘anti-Semitic’ criticism more or less at all costs. Many were doubly shocked because of his human rights background. It was one of the factors which led to his defenestration. Criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitic.

We have to be wary of course since many politicians make statements like this. He has to face a massive and well funded lobby in parliament, a media much of which is supportive of the Israelis and a BBC which even today (10 July) was quibbling on the Today programme whether it is a genocide or not because it hadn’t been legally decided yet.

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