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Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is forming a loose coalition with four other pro-Palestinian independent MPs as he seeks to apply pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to take a stronger stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Corbyn, who stood and won as an independent in Islington North after being ousted from the Labour party in May, met the four other MPs on Tuesday, according to several people present.
“It’s about finding as many allies as possible,” one of the people said, adding that the group intended to put forward amendments to legislation in an effort to pressure Starmer on issues such as UK arms sales to Israel.
The potential grouping of independents would equal the number of Reform UK MPs and exceed the number of Greens, who have four MPs and also had a pro-Palestinian platform at the general election.
It is unclear how effective the independents can be as a force in parliament, given Labour’s huge majority and their disparate policy platforms.
Two of the independents — Ayoub Khan and Adnan Hussain — focused predominantly on the conflict in Gaza during their campaigns, while Corbyn and the others also campaigned on domestic issues.
Khan and Iqbal Mohamed said they were keen to work with the other independents to fight for a stronger stance from the UK government on Gaza. The other MPs — Corbyn, Hussain, and Shockat Adam — did not reply to a request for comment.
The five MPs’ unexpected wins have sparked recriminations within Labour over its failure to address frustration at the party in dozens of constituencies, many of which have large Muslim populations.
Some senior Labour figures fear the new MPs will stoke further division within the party and draw more attention to Starmer’s position and rhetoric on Gaza, which not all members agree on.
Starmer has been criticised by leftist groups and Muslim organisations for appearing to condone Israel’s tactics in Gaza and for only gradually shifting the party’s position towards supporting an immediate ceasefire. His reluctance to change stance led to 10 frontbenchers quitting in November.
A Labour spokesperson said the party’s position on the conflict had been “clear and decisive”.
“We will continue to push for an immediate ceasefire, the return of hostages, an immediate increase in the volume of aid reaching civilians, and progress on a process for the two-state solution we all want to see,” they said.
But some figures within Labour have argued that Starmer did not do enough to rebut criticisms from pro-Palestinian activists during the campaign, leaving several MPs to fight challenging campaigns where they said they faced harassment and intimidation.
“It’s hard for those colleagues who faced those fights,” said a senior Labour figure involved in the campaign.
Labour did not send activists from out of town into six of the seats it lost in some of the biggest surprises on election night, including shadow cabinet minister Jonathan Ashworth’s seat in Leicester South, according to a Financial Times analysis of the party’s deployment of activists.
A senior Labour strategist involved in an audit of the party’s campaign admitted “we did not see the problem” in Ashworth’s seat, which was lost by 979 votes to Adam.
Former shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire, who lost her Bristol seat to the Greens, said on Wednesday that Labour’s “lack of a strong narrative” on Gaza had “had consequences” and the party was “storing up trouble” for MPs.
This article has been amended after publication to correct the spelling of Ayoub Khan’s name