The next British PM should steer clear of Starmer’s shameful legacy

“I think Israel does have that right.”

When British Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned last week, an old but forever damning clip resurfaced. Appearing on a London radio show in October 2023, the former human rights lawyer told the host that Israel had the right to cut water and electricity off to the besieged population of Gaza.

This was no slip of the tongue. Instead, it represented the instincts of a man who went on to oversee Britain’s complicity in the greatest crime of our time. In opposition, Starmer helped Israel accrue the confidence and capital it needed to justify its crimes. In office, his government helped Israel accrue the military means it needed to carry them out.

After Starmer took office in July 2024, the value of arms export licences granted from October to December that year alone was 127.6 million pounds ($168.8m), far higher than what was approved by the Conservative government from 2020 to 2023. In September 2024, Labour Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced a partial suspension of arms exports to Israel. Pausing about 30 arms export licences out of a total of 350, the government made one, huge, glaring omission: the continued supply of parts for Israel’s F-35 stealth fighter jets. This included components that went to the United States to be sent on to Israel and spare parts that went into global stockpiles that may have gone to Israel.

Arms sales typically dominate discussions of British complicity. However, perhaps even more significant has been the continued role of Royal Air Force Akrotiri base in Cyprus. “The whole world and everyone back at home is relying on you. Quite a bit of what goes on here can’t necessarily be talked about all of the time. We can’t necessarily tell the world what you’re doing.” This is what Starmer told service members while visiting the RAF base in December 2024. If Starmer won’t tell the world, we will: RAF bases have been a critical site of complicity, principally through the performance of routine RAF surveillance flights over Gaza.

Israel has not just relied on the United Kingdom’s military support but its economic support too. The government should have been using every single economic and political tool at its disposal to force Israel to stop. That is the approach the government has taken towards Russia. Refusing to do the same to Israel is rank hypocrisy – and proof of economic, diplomatic and political complicity. A sprinkling of sanctions against a handful of extreme settlers and ministers doesn’t cut it. Without comprehensive sanctions, Israel will never adhere to international law: not in Gaza, not in the West Bank, not in Lebanon, not anywhere.

In June 2025, I presented a private members’ bill to the UK Parliament, calling for an independent, public inquiry into British involvement in Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The government blocked it, explaining that there was “no need” for an inquiry.

In response, we held our own tribunal. Over the course of two days, a range of witnesses proved beyond doubt that the British government has been complicit in war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Shortly after the tribunal, I wrote to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to invite it to interview government ministers, including Starmer, over the role they have played in one of the greatest crimes of our time. An ICC investigation could do what the inquiries into the Iraq war never did: bring about real accountability and real justice.

Starmer’s likely successor will be former Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham. If he wants to signal a change from Starmer, he would do something simple: end Britain’s complicity in genocide. That means ending all arms sales to Israel. That means imposing comprehensive sanctions. That means reversing the draconian assault on the right to protest and de-proscribing Palestine Action.

Burnham should not just end Britain’s complicity in the Gaza genocide. He should end Britain’s relentless march to war. Starmer left office boasting about massive increases in military spending. He didn’t mention his government’s failure to end the grotesque levels of poverty and homelessness in our society, nor his shameful attempts to slash welfare to fund his thirst for warfare.

Instead of spending money on bombs and bullets, Burnham should spend it on schools and our National Health Service. Ultimately, we will never bring about real change without a mass redistribution of wealth, ownership and power. That means wealth taxes, rent controls, and an end to privatisation in energy, rail, mail, water and healthcare.

It is fitting that on the very same day Starmer resigned, I represented my bill for an independent inquiry. If Burnham was serious about bringing about change, he would support my bill and make this inquiry a reality. Starmer may be gone, but we aren’t going anywhere, and we will not stop until there is justice for the Palestinian people.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.