Kensington Labour Party finally released a statement calling for a ceasefire in Palestine, over three weeks after local councillors wrote a first draft, and only after the criminal government of Binyamin Netanyahu had agreed to a temporary truce. Multiple Labour councillors have told Urban Dandy that interventions from local and regional Labour officials delayed the release of the statement and ensured the local party did not contradict and embarrass Labour leader Keir Starmer and Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy who have backed Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip. We have obtained the Kensington councillors’ original statement, which bears little resemblance to the published version, adding to the evidence of a crackdown on internal democracy and a prioritisation of Israeli government interests under Starmer. 

Original Statement

The original statement drafted by the Kensington Labour councillors was ready for publication on 7^th November. In contrast with the version published three weeks later, the original is clear that Israel is responsible for the genocide it is carrying out. This put the Kensington group of councillors in alignment with international law as Israel has no right to use violence against a population that it occupies.

The language used by the councillors indicated their grasp of the gravity of the crime underway in Gaza and the emotional importance of Palestine to local communities and people of conscience. They accurately cited Israel’s “indiscriminate carpet-bombing of hospitals, refugee camps…in densely populated areas” and called out the Netanyahu government’s “collective punishment,” again aligning themselves with international law. The councillors referenced the death toll, pointing out that “nearly half of them are children.”

The councillors also embedded a photo of a crater in Jabalia refugee camp, caused by an Israeli air strike against the defenceless refugees a few days earlier which killed hundreds of innocent civilians; an image that can be seen as symbolic of the overwhelming firepower being used by Israel against defenceless people.

Second Draft

Two weeks elapsed before Councillor and Labour Group Whip Sina Lari shared an updated draft with colleagues, calling for a permanent ceasefire. Unlike the original, the new version focused on the Palestinian attack of 7^th October; it aligned the Kensington Labour group with Keir Starmer and his support for a “humanitarian pause” and raised concerns about reported rising antisemitism and Islamophobia in London.

Removed from the original were the identification of Israel as the perpetrator; the line on indiscriminate carpet bombing of civilians; the death toll; the reference to Palestinian children; the opposition to collective punishment and the photo of the crater in the refugee camp.

Published Statement  

Building on the changes for the final version, the Chair of Kensington & Bayswater Labour Party, Monica Press, softened up the statement’s criticism of Israel and shifted the blame to the Palestinians. Councillors have told Urban Dandy that Press worked with Labour’s London Region bureaucrats on the final version of the statement and that elected councillors were not consulted. Councillors told us the delay in publication reflected the desire of Labour bureaucrats and Starmer’s office to support Israel’s genocide.

In an email to councillors on 24^th November, Press explained the document’s new title, “Statement on Israel/Hamas War” by claiming “it is not an Israel/Palestine war as the West Bank and Palestinian Authority did not initiate the action.”

This reflects the Western strategy of dividing the Palestinians between the West Bank and Gaza Strip to further Israeli/US/UK foreign policy in the region, which centres around the indefinite illegal occupation of Palestinian land and the denial of seven million Palestinian refugees’ return to their land. Hamas won the last Palestinian general election in 2006 but was prevented from governing by a US-EU-Israel-Palestinian Authority (PA) conspiracy that split the Palestinians along geographical lines. When Hamas discovered a plot to violently overthrow and replace their elected government with a Fatah (the political faction that dominates the PA) administration, the resistance movement pre-empted the coup and consolidated its power in Gaza, ceding power in the West Bank. However, Hamas had won a higher percentage of the vote in the West Bank. In the context of failed diplomatic efforts to liberate the Palestinians or achieve the fulfilment of any of their rights, there is consensus among Palestinians in support of Hamas’ and the other resistance movements’ tactics. In the occupied West Bank, resistance has been ruthlessly suppressed by the Quisling PA government, which polices the territory on Israel’s behalf.

Labour’s Approach

Press’s words betray Labour’s colonial approach to Palestine, which is now being dictated to constituencies and members as the only acceptable approach. Rather than respecting the democratic choices of the Palestinian people, Labour insists that only the discredited, unelected PA has the right to rule. In a recent article in The Observer, David Lammy sets out Labour’s approach which amounts to asking Israel to rein in its settlers in the West Bank and regime change in Gaza. Lammy praises the Biden Administration’s approach to Palestine and refers to the genocide as “humanitarian suffering in Gaza.” It is the language and foreign policy of Zionism.

While the original statement written by the Kensington councillors was clear on Israel’s culpability, three weeks of Labour interference changed it so that it was emphatic about Hamas being to blame, with the whole first paragraph focusing on the resistance group and its “savage acts of terror.” While the Palestinian death toll was removed, the Israeli death toll and hostage count were inserted. In contrast to the active voice used for Palestinians’ violence, Israel’s actions are described passively. According to the statement, there is an “unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.” Apparently without a protagonist, the catastrophe is simply unfolding just as a flower or butterfly unfolds – Israel’s destruction of Palestinian life is regarded as natural in Starmer’s Labour.

In an email to councillors shared with Urban Dandy, Monica Press does state that Hamas should not be labelled as terrorists, perhaps a concession that significant numbers of local Labour voters see the party’s approach to the Middle East in a negative light, or perhaps a concession to the councillors who wanted to take a strong line on Israel’s collective punishment of civilians. So far, two Kensingson councillors have left Labour in protest at the party’s support for Israel’s genocide.

The weeks of delay, the resignation of councillors from the local party and the evident pro-Israel bias in the statement are all signs that Kensington Labour is divided. While the councillors were initially unanimous in speaking out against Israel, a source told Urban Dandy that two councillors supported the watering down of the statement, saying “we don’t want to upset the leader.”

One councillor told us that the delay and the re-wording were to protect Labour’s parliamentary candidate, Joe Powell, who’s name does not appear on the statement and who has not spoken out against Israel’s genocide.

Several councillors told us that party bureaucrats are planning to deselect most of the Kensington group before the next local elections. One told us that 15 new councillors are being primed to replace the current intake, with only two of them non-white. Last year London Region and the national party removed grassroots candidates from the selection process to be parliamentary candidate using fictional “antisemitism” stories and have dictated the organisations the Kensington branch can affiliate to, excluding anti-war, pro-Palestine and Diaspora affiliations.  

The Labour Party wants voters to believe that the management of Israel’s savagery is the best approach the UK can take in the Middle East. Via a nationwide suppression of party democracy, Starmer is appeasing the pro-Israel donor class, emasculating elected Labour politicians and encouraging the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

by Tom Charles @tomhcharles