Keir Starmer is facing questions today after removing his remembrance poppy before making a video attacking islamophobia against British Muslims, despite wearing one hours beforehand at a speech on Gaza.
The Labour leader proudly wore the red flower in his lapel on Tuesday morning as he repeated his opposition to a ceasefire in the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.
But in the video filmed hours later it was missing from his suit jacket as he made a statement for Islamophobia Awareness Month.
Amid anger from Labour members, many of them Muslim, over his stance on the fighting in the Middle East, he said that a resent ‘surge’ in Islamophobia in the UK was ‘devastating’.
A Labour spokeswoman said: ‘It was absolutely not a deliberate decision, and is in no way linked to the content of the video.’
But former British Army officer turned explorer Levison Wood said: ‘Keir Starmer should explain why he has worn a poppy in front of one group of people, but taken it off in front of another.
The Labour leader proudly wore the red flower in his lapel on Tuesday morning as he repeated his opposition to a ceasefire in the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas .
But in the video filmed hours later it was missing from his suit jacket as he made a statement for Islamophobia Awareness Month.
Former British Army officer turned explorer Levison Wood said: ‘Keir Starmer should explain why he has worn a poppy in front of one group of people, but taken it off in front of another.’
‘If he genuinely believes in what the poppy represents, he should wear it all the time, not take it off depending on who he is speaking to.’
Sir Keir appears to be keeping a low profile today as Labour frontbenchers continue to defy the party line over Israel‘s bloody assault on Gaza.
The Opposition leader doubled down on his opposition to a ceasefire between the IDF and Hamas on Tuesday, saying it would only benefit the terrorists by giving them space to regroup.
Instead he has lined up alongside Rishi Sunak and other western leaders urging ‘humanitarian pauses’ to allow aid into Gaza and people out.
However senior MPs have continued to indirectly call for a ceasefire to avoid claims they are avoiding collective responsibility – where politicians tow the party line or quit/are sacked from ministerial or shadow ministerial senior jobs.
Slough MP Tan Dhesi became the latest to do this last night after a highly controversial Israeli airstrike on Hamas targets in a refugee camp.
The Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury tweeted that a ‘cessation of hostilities’ was needed.
Others, meanwhile, continue to openly call for a ceasefire, including shadow exports minister and Manchester Gorton MP Afzal Khan. A day after the leader’s speech he yesterday tweeted: ‘Collective punishment of Palestinians by the Israeli Govt is deplorable and must be met with international condemnation. Gazans urgently need the siege lifted and a ceasefire called.’
Shadow cabinet minister Liz Kendall this morning suggested that Labour MPs who defy party leader Sir Keir Starmer by calling for a ceasefire will not face action.
The shadow work and pension secretary told Sky News the leadership will continue to listen and engage with critics of Sir Keir’s stance.
Asked if they will face disciplinary action, she said: ‘That’s not been the approach… that’s not the approach we’ve taken.
‘Keir’s position is the right one, and I actually think, if you look across our party, our desire to end the killing, to make sure we get that aid in and the hostages out, and that long-term goal of a two-state solution, is something that we all agree on.’
