Keir Starmer is just a frustrated accountant. Since his political instinct is entirely governed by numbers. With the PM plummeting to the lowest net favourability rating on record, he has strategically and shamefully turned his focus to the recognition of a Palestinian state: a move which appears carefully calculated to placate the Pro-Palestinian MPs with wafer-thin majorities or large Muslim demographics.
As well as the voters he fears losing to Jeremy Corbyn’s hard-left ‘Jez-bollah’ movement. Frankly, given Starmer’s lack of international stature, the idea that Britain’s position will materially affect a conflict thousands of miles away is laughable. Meanwhile here are some figures he hasn’t crunched: the cost to Britain’s Jewish communities of signalling support for Palestinian statehood — with no real conditions attached. Instead he risks emboldening extremism and legitimising Hamas.
And so once again he puts British Jews on notice. Despite a steep rise in antisemitism, and the disturbing way Jew-hatred has been normalised across public bodies, including universities and even the NHS, Starmer seems content to throw more fuel on the fire. This is not only a matter for the Jewish people. For in the process Starmer has also delivered a chilling vision for the future of Britain under a left-wing administration beholden to terrorists and extremists.
Clearly, our PM wasn’t listening when Trump offered his own back-of-a-fag-packet prescription for electoral success: cut taxes, stop the boats, keep out of foreign wars, reduce crime. Simple — but bang on the money. Instead, Starmer engages in posturing masquerading as principle. He has vowed that Britain will recognise a Palestinian state by September — regardless of whether Israel strikes peace with Hamas.
This isn’t diplomacy. It’s political theatre. It sends a chilling message to the terrorist regime in Gaza: continue starving your people, continue using them as human shields, keep holding hostages in hellish dungeons — and we’ll reward you with statehood anyway. And at home, the consequences are equally bleak. This move risks legitimising extremism and sends the signal that Britain sides against Israel — and by extension, against Jews.
It hands more horsepower to those who threaten, intimidate, and harass Jewish people on British streets. To be clear, recognition of Palestinian statehood is not in itself the issue. Many Jews, both in the UK and Israel, support a two-state solution in principle. There is however a difference between endorsing Palestinian rights and sending a symbolic message that will, inevitably, be weaponised by those who do not want peace but vengeance. And a small vulnerable minority, loyal to this country, will pay the cost.
Of course, everyone wants to see an end to suffering in Gaza. Israel is also already fighting a propaganda war which also emboldens antisemites in this country. The blockage of aid delivered by Israel has been frustrated by the UN, through incompetence or complicity. Then there is the widely shared image from recent days of a Gazan mother holding the emaciated body of her son, Mohammed Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq.
International media framed it as a symbol of Israeli cruelty. In fact, as investigative journalist David Collier has revealed heartbreakingly that Mohammed suffers from genetic disorders and cerebral palsy. The image was cynically cropped to omit his healthier younger brother. But extremists and propagandists have no use for context or truth.
Let’s also remember the facts Starmer seems eager to forget: Israel did not start this war. It did not launch the atrocities of October 7. It withdrew unilaterally from Gaza in 2005. And it was the people of Gaza who elected Hamas in 2006. But Starmer, ever the calculator, appears to be thinking only of his own survival
If the Prime Minister had a shred of integrity, he would make one thing clear: the recognition of Palestinian statehood must be conditional on the immediate release of all hostages and the unequivocal renunciation of terror, and a recognition by Palestinians in the charter of any new state of the rights and state of Israel.
He would also follow Trump`s advice: focus on the needs of the people here. The UK has a right to know its prime minister is putting this country first — tackling key domestic pressure points and ensuring the Jewish community’s safety is part of the Government’s moral calculus. Ever the accountant, instead Starmer only does right when the numbers demand it.