Sadiq Khan’s Gaza comments show Labour hasn’t changed, says Sunak

Sadiq Khan said there was a need to ‘show equivalence’ when it came to all loss of life – Alberto Pezzali/AP

Sadiq Khan’s comments about the Gaza conflict show that Labour has not changed under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership, Rishi Sunak has said.

Mr Khan, the Labour Mayor of London, suggested this week that there must be equally strong criticism of Hamas and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

Speaking after being sworn in at City Hall after winning a third term, Mr Khan said the Israel-Hamas conflict was “an issue of humanity” and there was a need to “show equivalence” when it came to all loss of life.

He went on to “unequivocally condemn” both the actions of Hamas on Oct 7, when the terror group killed 1,200 Israeli civilians, and the bombardment of Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that followed.

Sir Keir has boasted of leading “a changed Labour Party” from that of Jeremy Corbyn, which was mired in a crisis over anti-Semitism.

Addressing Mr Khan’s remarks at Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Sunak said: “Let me be crystal clear – there is absolutely no equivalence between a terrorist group and a democratic state.

“So can I ask him [Sir Keir] now, will he take this opportunity to demonstrate that the Labour Party has changed, and will he condemn those comments from the Labour Mayor?”

Sir Keir declined to comment on Mr Khan, instead joking that Mr Sunak – whose party is trailing Labour by almost 20 points in the polls – was “getting ahead of himself by asking me questions”.

Mr Sunak replied: “He had the opportunity to condemn the comments of his Mayor. He did not do that, and everybody will see what that is – that is the ‘changed’ Labour Party right there.”

Downing Street doubled down on its criticisms of Mr Khan in a press briefing after the two leaders’ exchange in the Commons.

The Prime Minister’s press secretary said: “He did use the word ‘equivalence’ between a terror attack that killed women, children, young people just out of a music festival, and a country exercising its right to self-defence.

“Sir Keir Starmer needs to come out very strongly today and say that is not his view. There is no equivalence between an attack by terrorists and a democratic country exercising its right to self-defence.”

But Sir Keir’s official spokesman accused Mr Sunak of having “entirely misrepresented what Sadiq Khan said”.

“The ‘equivalence’ was clearly a reference to valuing all human life, which we obviously do,” he said. “There is obviously a complete difference between the actions of Hamas, a terrorist organisation, and what they did on Oct 7 and the way in which that has to be obviously utterly condemned, with the direct actions of the Israeli government.

“I do think you’d have to say that you treat all human life equally, whether that is innocent Israeli civilians or innocent Palestinian civilians who are caught up in conflict. I don’t think that should be a controversial statement.”

Labour added that Mr Khan was “not saying” the actions of Hamas in the Oct 7 attacks were comparable to the actions of the Israeli government.

The London Mayor has gone significantly further than Sir Keir in his criticism of Israel, calling for an immediate ceasefire months before his party leader and also demanding that Britain stop selling arms to Israel.

Richard Parker, who was elected as the new Labour Mayor for the West Midlands over the weekend, also called for an arms embargo to be imposed on Israel.

Speaking on LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr, Mr Parker said he would “absolutely” like to see the Government stop selling arms to Mr Netanyahu’s government in the “long term”.

Asked about falling support for Labour among Muslim voters at the local and mayoral elections, Mr Parker said: “I’ll be working with council leaders here, with councillors, with our MPs across all parties to rebuild trust with our Muslim community and hoping to ensure that they come back to Labour.

“I’ve called previously for a ceasefire – we need to ensure that we get aid into Gaza, that the international community works collectively to create a two-state solution and we need the recognition of a Palestinian state. So I’ve been firm on that.”

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