For British Muslims, Keir Starmer’s legacy will always be indelibly linked to his staunch support for Israel as it mass slaughtered the Palestinians in Gaza, writes Roshan Muhammed Salih.
Long before he entered Downing Street in 2024, Starmer (who resigned as Prime Minister today) had already transformed Labour’s relationship with Britain’s Muslim communities.
After succeeding Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in 2020, he oversaw a purge of the party’s left-wing and pro-Palestinian elements under the false banner of tackling antisemitism.
Many Muslims who had enthusiastically supported Corbyn viewed this process as the party becoming increasingly hostile to pro-Palestinian voices and increasingly accommodating to pro-Israel interests.
Under Corbyn, Labour had appeared to be moving in a direction that many British Muslims found hopeful. Under Starmer, they watched that trajectory reversed.
Then came October 2023. As Israel unleashed its genocidal assault on Gaza, Starmer gave what would become one of the defining interviews of his political career.
Speaking to LBC radio, he endorsed Israel’s “right” to cut off power and water to Gaza as part of its siege. At a time when Palestinians were facing collective punishment on an unimaginable scale, Britain’s Muslims heard the leader of the Labour Party justify war crimes.
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Any trust that remained evaporated.
Weeks later, Starmer instructed Labour MPs to oppose calls for an immediate ceasefire. As Palestinians were being massacred and public anger surged across Britain, Labour MPs were whipped into voting against a ceasefire.
Muslim communities watched in disgust. For them, this was not merely a policy disagreement; it was a moral failure.
Throughout the years that followed, Starmer never fundamentally altered Britain’s relationship with Israel. There were occasional expressions of concern; mild criticisms were voiced when Israeli excesses became impossible to ignore.
But criticism was never accompanied by meaningful action – there were no sanctions worthy of the name, no expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, no decisive break with a state facing accusations of genocide before international courts.
Arms sales continued in various forms; diplomatic relations remained intact; Britain’s political establishment carried on largely as normal while Gaza burned.
For millions of British Muslims and non-Muslims alike, Keir Starmer had become synonymous with Britain’s complicity in Israel’s war of extermination.
The consequences were profound. For decades, Labour had depended on overwhelming Muslim support. In some constituencies, Muslim voters formed the backbone of Labour’s electoral coalition and the party often enjoyed support levels approaching 80 percent.
Gaza shattered that relationship. Ahead of the 2024 general election, campaigns urging Muslims to abandon Labour gained momentum across the country. Independent candidates emerged as credible alternatives and the Greens attracted disillusioned voters. In short, Muslim support for Labour collapsed.
Yet Starmer still won because timing was on his side. The Conservatives had exhausted the patience of the British public through years of scandal, incompetence and economic decline. Reform UK had not yet become the force it would later become. Labour’s victory owed everything to Conservative collapse and nothing to public enthusiasm for Starmer.
But electoral success could not conceal a deeper truth – the bond between Labour and British Muslims had been broken.
And that rupture continued to shape British politics. Anti-Labour sentiment persisted in local elections and communities once taken for granted demonstrated that their votes had to be earned rather than assumed. Support levels that once topped 80% had fallen to around 30%
Keir Starmer’s supporters may argue that history will remember him for returning Labour to government, but British Muslims and pro-Palestinians are likely to remember something else.
They will remember a Prime Minister who stood with Israel while Gaza was destroyed.
They will remember a Labour leader who marginalised pro-Palestinian voices within his own party.
They will remember the crackdown on Palestine solidarity activism that unfolded under his watch.
And they will remember acting on that anger at the ballot box.
As Labour enters its post-Starmer era, his successor (almost certainly Andy Burnham) would do well to understand the lesson: British Muslims will use their voice at the ballot box to hurt those who support Israel and Zionism.
So if Labour wishes to rebuild trust, it cannot simply offer carefully-crafted words while maintaining the same policies. It will require radical action because a few crumbs thrown the way at Muslim voters will not cut it.
Only a complete halt to arms sales, sanctions on Israel, the cutting of ties, and action against the Zionist lobby will do. Otherwise, the exodus of Muslim voters from Labour will continue. And Labour needs those votes to stand a chance at the next election.
For Keir Starmer, however, the verdict has already been delivered by Muslim communities. He may have reached Number 10, but his legacy will always be the blood-soaked streets of Gaza.
