Senior Labour MPs hit out at “intimidation” by pro-Palestinian campaigners on Friday after a revolt over Gaza shook the party.
Four Labour MPs lost to pro-Gaza independents and Muslim activists have warned that this was “just the beginning” of the problems the party will face. Sir Keir Starmer saw his own majority in Holborn & St Pancras cut in half, while Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood, two key members of Labour’s new cabinet, only just clung on.
Jess Phillips, who held off George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain by fewer than 700 votes, said it had been “the worst election I have ever stood in” as she was heckled at the count. She criticised “aggressive and violence in our democracy”, saying her campaigners had been screamed at and had their tyres slashed. She spoke over jeers of “shame on you” and “free Palestine”.
Mahmood said her campaign in Birmingham Ladywood was “sullied by harassment and intimidation” of her family and campaigners.
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Describing this as an “assault on democracy itself”, Mahmood said: “British politics must soon wake up to what happened at this election, in Ladywood and a handful of other seats across this country. While it will always be acceptable to disagree passionately. It is never acceptable to intimidate and threaten.”
She attacked opponents who branded her “an infidel”, saying: “I know what Muslim values are. Muslim values are mine. And they are British values too: decency, respect, kindness.”
However, Mahmood also accepted that “we have bridges to re-build” and acknowledged that Muslim voters had sent a “powerful message” to Labour. “I know we have trust that we must earn back from my own community,” she said.
In the 21 seats where more than a fifth of the population is Muslim, Labour’s vote share fell by 25 per cent. There was an average rise of 3 per cent in all other seats.
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Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general — one of Labour’s most prominent voices during the campaign — lost his Leicester South seat. Shockat Adam, the independent who defeated him, said “this is for Gaza” as he delivered Labour’s biggest upset of the night.
Each of the independents placed Gaza above domestic priorities in their campaigning.
In Dewsbury & Batley, independent candidate Iqbal Mohamed beat Labour’s Heather Iqbal, a former aide to Rachel Reeves, arguing that “Tories and Labour are accessories to a 75-year genocide”.
In Blackburn, Labour’s Kate Hollern lost to independent Adnan Hussain, who stressed “the injustice being inflicted against the people of Gaza” in his pitch to voters.
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In Birmingham Perry Barr, the veteran MP Khalid Mahmood lost to independent Ayoub Khan, whose TikTok videos highlighting the Palestinian cause have gained hundreds of thousands of views.
Including Jeremy Corbyn, who defeated Labour in his old Islington North constituency, the five pro-Gaza independent MPs equal the number of seats won by Reform UK.
The Labour left urged Starmer to listen. Zarah Sultana, a left-wing backbencher, said “there was a hope that this problem would just go away and it hasn’t”. She told the BBC: “The party has to seriously recognise and acknowledge the issue, which is not just with British Muslim communities, it’s across communities. It definitely is a serious issue.”
Luke Tryl, executive director of More In Common, said that Gaza was the trigger for Muslim voters to reject Labour, but that there were wider issues of feeling neglected.
He said: “The parallel is the group of formerly loyal Labour voters in the red wall who felt the party had abandoned them. Brexit was the trigger to finally make the move away. I think we’re seeing a very similar pattern with Muslim voters. They think Labour has taken them for granted. Gaza is the spark.”
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Tryl has carried out several focus groups with Muslim voters in what were Labour strongholds. As well as Gaza they spoke about the decline of neighbourhoods, their fears of crime and feeling let down on domestic issues. “Labour has a job to do to rebuild trust with lots of Muslim voters. They’re expressing widespread discontent,” he said.
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A split in the Labour vote also allowed Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, to retain the Chingford & Woodford Green seat he was widely expected to lose.
Faiza Shaheen, who stood as an independent after being deselected by Labour at the last minute, said “those who were never going to vote Labour after Starmer’s stance on Gaza” were a key contributor to the unexpected Tory victory there.
However, Galloway, elected in February at the Rochdale by-election, lost to Labour’s Paul Waugh.
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The successful independent candidates were all endorsed by The Muslim Vote, a campaign group that sought to “punish” politicians over their stance on Gaza. The group is supported by controversial organisations and has been accused of supporting intimidatory tactics online against candidates it opposes, as well as denouncing Muslims who canvass for Labour as “parasites”.
The group said it had sent “shockwaves through our political system” and that it planned to mobilise further during the next five years, warning Labour: “This is just the beginning, not the end.”
