Burnham Apologizes for Labour's Gaza Stance Ahead of PM Bid
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Andy Burnham, expected to become UK prime minister by month's end after winning the Makerfield by-election in June, apologized for Labour's Gaza stance, saying the party "didn't get it right" and pledged to "put more pressure on the Israeli government" while stopping short of calling the campaign genocidal.
- A YouGov poll commissioned by Caabu found 50% of Britons believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, with only 17% disagreeing and one-third unsure.
- Under Keir Starmer, Labour took more than four months to call for a humanitarian ceasefire, and Starmer initially suggested Israel had "the right" to withhold power and water from Palestinian civilians; his remarks prompted intra-party fury and took over a week to clarify.
- The UK has licensed at least £500 million ($671m) in military exports to Israel since 2015, supplying roughly 15% of F-35 stealth fighter jet parts, and in September 2024 suspended only 29 of approximately 360 active arms export licences.
- Since proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation in July 2025, the UK has made more than 3,000 arrests linked to support for the group, placing it in the same legal category as ISIS or al-Qaeda.
- Analysts including former Labour adviser Patrick Diamond and Queen Mary University of London's Tim Bale characterized Burnham's remarks as an effort to win back defectors — with a Palestinian Solidarity Campaign poll finding two-thirds of Labour voters who switched to the Green Party cited Gaza as the driver.
- More than 73,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, including more than 1,000 since a supposed ceasefire took effect, according to figures cited in the source.
Why it matters: Half of Britons already believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, yet the UK has suspended only 29 of roughly 360 arms export licences and arrested 3,000+ people under its Palestine Action ban. With Labour having lost progressive voters to the Greens over Gaza and Burnham about to enter Number 10, the gap between public sentiment and UK policy becomes harder to sustain — though Bale warned the UK is already "at the edge" of what it can do without straining US ties and inviting fresh anti-Semitism accusations.
