His position, however, is coming under increasing strain with the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has upped the ante on the international stage by promising recognition in September.
At home, an increasing number of Starmer’s Cabinet ministers have urged him to rethink his position, while 221 MPs from across the spectrum signed a letter to the same effect last week.
Yet the PM is in no rush to do so, instead announcing that he is working on his own “pathway to peace,” which he likened to the “coalition of the willing” he convened in support of Ukraine.
While details of such a plan are so far scant, he raised the subject again when he met Donald Trump in Scotland Monday.
Trump acknowledged on Monday the “real starvation” in Gaza and said he would work with European allies to “set up food centers.”
But a senior Labour MP who has worked with Starmer, granted anonymity to speak candidly, warned that despite his diplomatic efforts, the PM risked drifting further from his MPs on the issue. “He’s much more cautious than almost anyone else in the party,” they said.
