Cliff Notes
- Over a third of UK MPs have urged the Prime Minister to recognise a Palestinian state at an upcoming UN conference, escalating pressure on Sir Keir Starmer.
- While Starmer acknowledges the importance of recognition, he insists it must be part of a wider plan for lasting peace and security in the Middle East.
- The situation is complicated by contrasting positions from French President Macron, who plans to recognise Palestine, and US President Trump, who dismisses Macron’s statement as insignificant.
Sir Keir Starmer is caught between Trump, Macron and MPs over Palestine recognition | Politics News
Parliament may have shut up shop for a six-week summer break, but MPs and the French president are turning up the heat on Sir Keir Starmer over the Middle East.
More than one in three of all 650 MPs have written to the prime minister calling on the UK to recognise a Palestinian state at a United Nations conference next week.
In response to the call, his answer is essentially: Yes, but not yet.
That, of course, won’t satisfy the 222 MPs backing an all-party letter to the PM penned by the Labour MP Sarah Champion.
The majority of names on the letter, predictably, are Labour, Lib Dem and SNP MPs. But there are some Tory big hitters too, including Father of the House Sir Edward Leigh and former cabinet minister Kit Malthouse.
Until now, the PM and foreign secretary David Lammy have argued that the gesture of recognising Palestine on its own won’t end what Sir Keir himself calls “the appalling scenes in Gaza“.
But the pressure for recognition isn’t just coming from MPs. French President Emmanuel Macron has said France will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.