What a difference a week makes. Last Tuesday, Keir Starmer batted away all invitations to recognise the state of Palestine. It wasn’t happening. Keir was committed to being appalled by the situation in Gaza but not appalled enough to do anything about it.
He then received a letter from more than 250 MPs, including some cabinet ministers, later in the week begging him to recognise the state of Palestine. He still stonewalled. The time was not yet right.
Not even the opinion polls that showed most of the UK population supported the recognition of Palestine could move him. Keir knew best. Safety first. Don’t do anything to rock the boat.
Few were expecting that much of the emergency cabinet meeting to discuss Gaza. Some slightly stronger words to reflect the level of feeling among some cabinet ministers maybe. But still leaving himself some wriggle room. A balancing act that was sure to leave almost everyone feeling unhappy.
But then the readout. The message was unequivocal. The UK was going to recognise the state of Palestine before the next meeting of the UN general assembly in September unless the Israelis got their act together and committed to a ceasefire, allowed substantial aid into Gaza, got serious about a long-term peace plan, withdrew from the West Bank and accepted a two-state solution.
Moments later, Starmer popped up in the Downing Street media room for a brief, five-minute statement to confirm the government’s position. The time for action had come. No more equivocation or delay. It could be sooner, it could be later, but there was no way of blocking a Palestinian state. Hamas had to release the hostages and step aside. Benjamin Netanyahu had to act in good faith or accept the inevitable. The UK could no longer stand to one side and watch a humanitarian disaster unfold.
In a neat piece of timing, no sooner had Keir finished addressing the UK than David Lammy came on stage at the UN to repeat the message. The UK was done with pleading with both sides to act responsibly. The UN had passed resolution after resolution, demanding that the war in the Middle East come to an end and aid got through to a starving civilian population.
Enough was enough. Britain had played a unique role in the history of the area with the Balfour declaration and the creation of a Jewish homeland. But the UK had also made a promise to the Palestinian people that they should have the right to their own land and to live in peace. Now was the time to no longer pay lip service to the idea of a two-state solution and right the historical injustice.
“I feel the hand of history on our shoulders,” Lammy said in a deliberate echo of Tony Blair’s words on the Northern Ireland peace process. The chamber broke out in spontaneous applause as he left the stage after confirming that the UK would recognise the state of Palestine in just over a month’s time.
It was also a sign that Keir had played a blinder during his meeting with President Trump in Scotland the day before. That hadn’t been the easiest day out for the prime minister. But Starmer has proved himself to be one of the best wranglers of The Donald on the world stage. Knowing when to keep his mouth shut and let Agent Orange just ramble.
A narcissist is always going to be greedy for attention and Keir had been happy to sit back and let Trump be Trump. Let him boast about having ended six wars – though weirdly The Donald had reined that back to just five in a media appearance on Tuesday. Almost certainly still five too many, but no one was counting. Let him indulge his own vanity. Give him the Nobel peace prize if he really wants it. There were bigger prizes on offer. And the biggest of them all had been Gaza.
There will still be some who think the UK could have reached this position weeks ago. But Keir was not bothered about them. He’s a man who operates at his own pace and to his own lawyerly methods. Everything must be squared away. No surprises left.
This had been a good day for Starmer and the UK. A better day for the starving Palestinians. A day when a world leader had shown some leadership. Who would have thought?