The Guardian had the story that Keir Starmer fixed the agreement with the Speaker in Parliament on 21st February that a Labour amendment calling for a conditional ceasefire in Gaza would be called. Parliament was meant to be debating an SNP motion that called for an unconditional ceasefire.
The SNP can of course be accused of politiking but the party has had a consistent position since October.
Starmer has changed his position under pressure from mass protest outside of Parliament and electoral threats in some constituencies. His main concern was to stop a vote on the SNP motion with the possibility that 100 Labour MPs would back it,
He was successful which helped the desperate in Gaza not at all.
The fact that Parliament debated Gaza was a result of what the Victorians called pressure from without, extra-Parliamentary politics. Starmer disdains them but his actions mean they will become yet more important in the weeks ahead.
The news on 26th February that the Speaker has refused to re-table the SNP motion for debate underlines that yet more pressure from without is required. If Parliament cannot even discuss and debate on an immediate unconditonal ceasefire in Gaza, more democratic campaigning and lobbying is needed
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