Andy Burnham cruises through Labour leadership contest and apologises for Gaza response

Prime minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham has distanced himself from Sir Keir Starmer’s response over Gaza as he awaits being crowned leader of the country uncontested.

A total of 322 labor MPs have formally backed Burnham to be the next party leader on the first day of nominations.

The former Manchester mayor, who returned to Parliament winning a by-election in Makerfield,is expected to become prime minister on 20 July.

As the deadline passes for other candidates to challenge him, he will be declared labor leader at a party event at the end of next week.

He took the opportunity to back deeper sanctions against Israeli figures involved in settler violence as he apologized for labor’s initial response to the country’s actions in Gaza.

The likely next prime minister said the UK should be ‘clear in our criticism of what has happened in Gaza’, while also condemning Hamas’s attack on October 7 2023 and subsequent acts of antisemitic violence in Britain.

In a video posted to social media, he said: ‘I know many people feel that at the start of Israel’s military action in Gaza, my party didn’t get it right and I am sorry about that.

‘The response has too often not been good enough. We need to do better.’

While he acknowledged labor had subsequently recognized a Palestinian state, imposed restrictions on arms exports and sanctioned some Israeli ministers, he suggested a government under his leadership would go further.

Mr Burnham said: ‘Let’s be honest, the UK was too slow to call for a ceasefire and we must now do more to strengthen our approach.’

He added that action would include ‘looking at further sanctions, both on those involved in the violence in Gaza, but also looking at measures to ban trade in goods with illegal settlements’.

But he stopped short of accusing Israel of perpetrating a genocide against Palestinians, as some labor MPs have demanded Sir Keir Starmer should.

Mr Burnham said there was ‘increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed’, but added it was ultimately a matter for international courts rather than politicians to determine.

He said he was ‘appalled by what I have seen and read about the destruction of Gaza’, describing the experience of Palestinians in the territory as ‘a scar on our collective conscience’.

And he stressed his condemnation of both the October 7 attacks by Hamas and antisemitic violence in Britain, saying: ‘We must continue to stamp out antisemitism across the UK.’

labor’s initial response to Israel’s military action in Gaza, including resisting demands to call for an immediate ceasefire, drew strong criticism from some of the party’s supporters, with the issue driving a significant shift of particularly younger voters towards the Green Party.

Andy Burnham has said labor “didn’t get it right” in its initial response to Israel’s military action in Gaza, and signalled a shift in the UK’s approach including further sanctions and a possible ban on trade in settlement goods.

Responding, Karla McLaren from Amnesty International said: ‘These violations require urgent responses from the UK government, so we agree the UK should, at a minimum, end trade in settlement goods without delay and impose further sanctions on the Israeli officials most implicated in abuses.

‘Mr Burnham’s words point in the right direction, now we need to see this translated into action.’

Burnham has offered some other details for what his premiership could look like in a speech in Manchester last week.

He plans to establish a new No 10 unit in the north which will be tasked with handing local government more control in areas including housing and transport.

He also pledged to give all parts of the UK ‘greater public control’ of the water and energy sectors but other details remain scant.