The Gaza vote was a win for Keir Starmer – defending it will be harder | Gaby Hinsliff

The Labour leader has passed another stress test, but if he wants to carry all his MPs with him, he needs to offer a compelling alternative

What is the Labour party for in a time of war? The left has struggled with that question for decades, but the conflict between Israel and Hamas renders it painfully acute. If Labour isn't for a ceasefire, an end to the bloodshed, then what is it for? Is it in favour of premature babies dying because hospitals can't keep their incubators running, of refugee camps being bombed, of once-teeming neighbourhoods being reduced to wastelands?

Put like that, the answer may seem obvious, and in emails to many of the 56 Labour MPs who rebelled against the whip on Wednesday night to call for a ceasefire, it will have been put in much more emotive terms. The former shadow minister Rosena Allin-Khan, who rebelled, said that while 99% of the thousands who contacted her did so respectfully, she had had to involve police over one where someone threatened to come and find me if I didn't vote their way". Death threats are sadly not a new experience for Allin-Khan, or many other MPs who have suffered attempted intimidation over a shockingly wide range of issues. But her story is a reminder of just how high feelings are running and of the pressures some MPs are under, whichever way they ultimately voted.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

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