Fabian Uziell-Hamilton, 69, a British Labour Party Member of Parliament for Leeds North East since 1997 who was appointed Shadow Foreign Minister in January 2016 (and left that post shortly thereafter), was asked last Thursday by a Labour voter who accused Israel of genocide, “Should we be selling arms to Israel?” To which Hamilton, the grandson of a rabbi, replied, according to The Telegraph: “On the issue of arms sales, if we win the election next week we will stop arms sales to Israel immediately.”
“We don’t supply a huge number of arms, but we will stop them because we’re complicit if we don’t,” the Labour MP added, “We will also stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which is our largest client.”
“If we’re stopping arms sales to Israel, which we will, we’ve been very clear about that, we will stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which we should have done some time ago,” Hamilton said.
“Obviously some people believe that Starmer’s a liar (Sir Keir Rodney Starmer has been Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020 – DI), but it’s actually David Lammy (Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2021 – DI) who’s introduced this policy.”
“Hopefully, he will be foreign secretary if we win the election and he has been very clear about implementing this. I know him much better than I know Starmer, and I know Lammy will actually do what he says.”
The upcoming British general election, scheduled for July 4, appears to be a foregone conclusion – Labour will win huge, and may relegate the Tories to third place in Parliament if the country continues to go to the dogs. Just over a month ago, without an umbrella in a relentless downpour, which was possibly the best metaphor ever produced by Nature, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, facing inevitable defeat, emerged from 10 Downing Street to announce that he had requested the King to dissolve Parliament, attempting to strike an optimistic tone as he declared, “The time has come for Britain to decide its path forward.”
Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader, stands to gain from this situation, though he’ll inherit significant challenges. At 61, Starmer took the helm from James Corbyn in early 2020. His methodical transformation of Labour back into a centrist party has been unsurprising and consistent. Known for his no-nonsense demeanor, Starmer often appears in rolled-up white shirtsleeves or casual attire adorned with numerous zippers.
In other words, in terms Leeds Labour voters can understand: a liar.
The New Yorker pointed out last week that in 1996, Roy Jenkins, a Labour veteran and historian, likened Tony Blair’s cautious approach to power as “a man carrying a priceless Ming vase across a highly polished floor.” Starmer has maintained a similar careful stance for about four years, and Labour’s current campaign could potentially the most successful in the party’s history.
