Britain's Labour Party suffered significant election setbacks in areas with large Muslim populations on Friday amid discontent over its position on the war in Gaza, despite a landslide victory in the parliamentary vote.
The party, which has long counted on the backing of Muslim and other minority groups, saw its vote fall on average by 10 points in seats where more than 10 per cent of the population identify as Muslim. Jonathan Ashworth, who had been expected to serve in Keir Starmer's Labour government, lost his seat to independent Shockat Adam, one of at least four pro-Gaza candidates to win. Several other Labour candidates came close to losing.
"This is for the people of Gaza," Adam said, holding up a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf at the end of his acceptance speech on winning in the Leicester South constituency. Pro-Gaza independents also won in Blackburn, and Dewsbury & Batley, beating Labour into second in both. Labour also failed to win in Islington North, where its former leader, veteran left-winger and ardent pro-Palestinian activist Jeremy Corbyn won as an independent.
While Labour has said it wants the fighting in Gaza to stop, it has also backed Israel's right to defend itself, angering some among the 3.9 million Muslims who make up 6.5 per cent of Britain's population. Starmer has faced criticism for only gradually shifting towards calling for a ceasefire. While the party has committed to recognising a Palestinian state, it has not set out a definitive timetable for doing so.
A Savanta poll last month found that 44 per cent of Muslim voters ranked the conflict as one of the top five issues and, of those, 86 per cent said they would consider backing an independent running on the issue.
"The Muslim Vote" campaign called on voters to pick pro-Palestine candidates running as independents or from smaller parties like the left-wing Workers Party, which put up over 150 candidates. There were 230 more independent candidates than at the last election in 2019.
The Workers Party's outspoken leader George Galloway won a by-election in March for a vacant parliamentary seat in Rochdale, which has a big Muslim population, after Labour withdrew support from its candidate over a recording espousing conspiracy theories about Israel. Labour won the seat back from Galloway on Friday.
Other Labour lawmakers only just held on to their seats, as they were challenged by pro-Gaza candidates. Wes Streeting, Labour's health chief and a senior member of the party, won by just 528 votes over British-Palestinian Leanne Mohamad in Ilford North.
Jess Philipps beat the Workers Party candidate Jody McIntyre by just 693 votes and then struggled to give a speech amid booing and jeering by pro-Palestinian activists. Philipps was one of several of leader Keir Starmer's "shadow cabinet" to leave their high-profile policy roles over the party's Gaza policies.
Meanwhile, Israel's spy chief was expected in Qatar on Friday for the latest effort to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, almost nine months into the Israel-Hamas war. A source with knowledge of the talks said the Israeli delegation led by David Barnea, head of the Mossad intelligence service, was heading to the Gulf emirate for the discussions "aiming to bring the parties closer to a deal in Gaza".
The Gaza war -- which has raised fears of a broader conflagration involving Lebanon -- began with Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on Israeli figures.
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