Keir Starmer has said Jeremy Corbyn’s “days as a Labour MP are over” after the former party leader repeatedly refused to call Hamas a terrorist organisation. Starmer said his predecessor, who lost the party whip in 2020, would not stand as a Labour MP at “the next election or any election”. Corbyn was repeatedly asked in an interview on TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored programme on Monday whether he thought Hamas was a terrorist group. But the Islington North MP, a vocal critic of the Israeli government, avoided the question. Hamas – which was responsible for killing 1,200 people in Israel on 7 October and kidnapping a further 240 – are proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK and support for them is banned. Starmer, asked on the News Agents podcast whether the interview would preclude Corbyn from standing for Labour again, said: “He won’t stand as a Labour MP at the next election or any election. His days as a Labour MP are over. We have a changed party.” Corbyn had already been blocked from running again. He had the Labour whip in parliament removed in October 2020 over his response to the equalities watchdog report on antisemitism in the party during his tenure as leader. He sits as an independent MP but remains a Labour member. He has indicated he could run against the party in the next general election in his seat, where he has significant support.
Starmer – who served in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet – said he was “taken aback and shocked” by his predecessor’s refusal to describe Hamas as a terrorist organisation. “It reaffirmed in me why it is so important to me and to this changed Labour party that Jeremy Corbyn does not sit as a Labour MP and will not be a candidate at the next election for the Labour party,” he said. “That is how far we have changed as the Labour party.” Starmer faced a bruising week on the issue of the Israel-Hamas war after a major rebellion in the Commons against the party’s position of calling for pauses in the violence but not going so far as to demand a ceasefire. He had put Labour MPs on a three-line whip not to vote for a Scottish National party (SNP) motion calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
However, 56 of his MPs defied the order,including 10 shadow ministers and parliamentary aides. Afzal Khan, Yasmin Qureshi, Paula Barker and Naz Shah were among the shadow junior ministers who resigned on Wednesday after abstaining from the vote, while Jess Phillips, Rachel Hopkins, Sarah Owen and Andy Slaughter left their frontbench roles after backing the amendment. Starmer insisted there was “no unconditional support for Israel” as it fought Hamas in a conflict where more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza. He said civilians and hospitals “must be protected” and international law upheld. PA Media contributed to this report