Is Gaza rebellion a warning for Keir Starmer?

Commons vote saw 56 Labour MPs defy Labour leader and call for immediate ceasefire

Keir Starmer with senior Labour colleagues
Perhaps crucially for Keir Starmer there were no top-tier shadow cabinet rebels
(Image credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Labour leader Keir Starmer has suffered a major rebellion over his stance on the Israel-Hamas war, with 56 of his MPs voting in the Commons for an immediate ceasefire. 

Ten Labour frontbenchers have left their jobs over the vote, including eight shadow ministers, in "a major blow" to Starmer's attempts to "keep unity" over the Middle East issue, said The Guardian.

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 Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.