SIR Keir Starmer endured a frontbench mutiny last night as eight members of his top team quit over his refusal to back a ceasefire in Gaza.
Shadow Ministers including Jess Phillips, Yasmin Qureshi and Afzal Khan quit over demands to want a ceasefire in the Middle East.
AFPKeir Starmer in Parliament today[/caption]
Fifty-six Labour MPs voted against party orders to abstain on an SNP amendment calling for an end to hostilities.
Senior members of the party faced the boot if they backed the amendment as they were under orders to abstain.
Labour back the government’s position of pushing for humanitarian pauses in the fighting to allow aid to reach Palestinians but stop short of calling for a total cessation of hostilities.
Sir Keir last night said: “I regret that some colleagues felt unable to support the position tonight. But I wanted to be clear about where I stood, and where I will stand.
“Leadership is about doing the right thing. That is the least the public deserves. And the least that leadership demands.”
Shadow Home Office Minister Jess Phillips said it was with a “heavy heart” that she leaves her role saying on this occasion she must vote with her constituents.
She said: “I can see no route where the current military action does anything but put at risk the hope of peace and security for everyone in the region now and in the future.”
Shadow Equalities Minister Yasmin Qureshi resigned ahead of the vote calling for the immediate end to hostilities.
She said: “The scale of bloodshed in Gaza is unprecedented. We must call for an end to the carnage to protect innocents lives and end human suffering.”
And Shadow Trade Minister Afzal Khan also called for a ceasefire saying it was the “very least” we can do.
He said: “I understand that you do not feel that a ceasefire is currently the right course of action and due to our difference of opinion on the issue, I do not feel I am able to continue as a shadow minister.”
Shadow Devolution Minister Paula Barker also quit backing the ceasefire.
She said: “My office has been overwhelmed with correspondence on the matter and my constituents have made their views and strength of feeling on this matter very clear – and I share that strength of feeling.”
Meanwhile, shadow Education Minister Helen Hayes signalled her departure from the frontbench telling MPs that her “conscience” is telling her to back a “bilateral, humanitarian” end to the fighting.
Frontbencher Naz Shah said she would back the amendment to the King’s Speech calling for an immediate end to fighting.
She said that a “humanitarian catastrophe” is taking place in Gaza as she backed calls for an “immediate ceasefire”.
Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “It’s not a free vote, there is a collective responsibility. It’s not so much about people being sacked as such, but that they would lose their jobs.
“If they’ve made a decision as a parliamentarian that they can’t be part of that collective decision, they wouldn’t be on the frontbench.”
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said Parliament must “show moral leadership” and vote in favour of backing an immediate stop to hostilities.
Labour back the government’s position of pushing for humanitarian pauses in the fighting to allow aid to reach Palestinians but stop short of calling for a total cessation of hostilities.
But their earlier amendment was defeated by a majority of 107 MPs in the Commons last night.
Tory MP Paul Bristow said he was prepared to “live with the consequences” saying he couldn’t vote against a ceasefire. His constituency in Peterborough, Cambs, has a Muslim population of 12.2 per cent.
Number 10 said he was sacked after calling for a “permanent” ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Lib Dem MP Layla Moran told MPs that one of her family members in Gaza has died due to a deterioration in their health, possibly due to a lack of food or dehydration, and couldn’t get to hospital.
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