I’m told the Labour leadership arranged an urgent meeting with council leaders last night about the party’s messaging on Gaza amid fears of pending resignations.
At the heated meeting, David Lammy and Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Sue Gray were told they only have days to act.
Lammy and Gray spoke to council leaders who demanded Starmer row back on previous interview comments about potential war crimes in Gaza and take a firmer stance on condemning war crimes.
They also demanded that councillors should not be stopped from attending Palestine demonstrations; they were particularly aggrieved by the messages they were sent on the weekend, which I revealed earlier:
NEW: I’ve seen messages sent from the Labour leadership telling its MPs and council leaders not to attend any Palestine related protests and demonstrations this weekend – regardless of what they are
— Shehab Khan ITV (@ShehabKhan) October 14, 2023
Sue Gray directed council leaders to what Starmer said in the Commons yesterday to try and calm things down, but many said it wasn’t enough.
One council leader, who says they have more than a dozen councillors threatening to resign, demanded something be done to appease very unhappy councillors as soon as possible.
One source described the entire meeting as a ‘total mess’ while another said they were shocked by how desperate some council leaders were: “The situation must be worse than we think; they’re convinced they’re losing local support’.
Shehab Khan
Update:
BREAKING: Thousands of British Muslim councillors, imams, doctors and other professionals have signed an open letter saying they have lost confidence in @Keir_Starmer as the leader of the Labour Party, following his comments on Gaza. pic.twitter.com/LttoFy8bcO
— Taj Ali (@Taj_Ali1) October 17, 2023
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