Sir Keir Starmer is set to be appointed Prime Minister on Friday.

Since Starmer, whose wife is Jewish and has family in Israel, succeeded left-winger Jeremy Corbyn, he has moved to tackle antisemitism in the Labour party and has reached out to the Jewish community in a bid to regain trust.

 

“I send my warmest congratulations to Keir Starmer. As he prepares to enter Downing Street as Prime Minister, I look forward to working together with him and his new government to bring our hostages home, to build a better future for the region, and to deepen the close friendship between Israel and the United Kingdom,’’ wrote Israeli President Isaac Herzog following Thursday’s general election in the United Kindom which saw the Labour party  winning a landslide victory.

After 14 years, the Conservatives led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lost power in a catastrophic defeat and the worst results in the history of the Tory party.

An exit poll after polls closed put Labour on course for a return to power for the first time since 2010, with 410 seats and a 170-seat majority. The Tories would only get 131 seats in the House of Commons – a record low – with the right-wing vote apparently spliced by Nigel Farage‘s anti-immigration Reform UK party, which could bag 13 seats.

In another boost for the centrists, the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats would get 61 seats, ousting the Scottish National Party on 10 as the third-biggest party.

Sir Keir Starmer is set to be appointed Prime Minister on Friday, ending an era which has seen five different Conservative leaders running the country.

In his victory speech, the Labour leader promised “national renewal” and that he would put “country first, party second”. “We have earned the mandate to relight the fire,” he said.

The result marks a stunning reversal from the 2019 election when Labour, led by the veteran left-wing politician Jeremy Corbyn, suffered its worst electoral defeat in almost a century.

Britain’s Jewish community – around 200,000 people- was considered broadly centrist for decades, but that all changed in 2015, when Jeremy Corbyn became the Labour Party’s leader. ‘’Labour quickly became plagued with persistent antisemitism allegations that Corbyn proved  either unable or unwilling to resolve. British Jews abandoned Labour in historic numbers in the 2017 and 2019 elections, and Corbyn lost the latter in a landslide.

In the years since Starmer, whose wife is Jewish and has family in Israel, succeeded Corbyn, he has moved to tackle antisemitism in the Labour party, and has reached out to the Jewish community in a bid to regain trust. He also booted Corbyn out of the parliamentary party for refusing to accept the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s report into antisemitism in Labour.

As a result, after almost a decade, many Jews were reportedly back to vote for Labour ‘’but this support is not unconditional’’, according to The Jewish Chronicle.

‘’The incoming Labour government will face intense pressure over the party’s policy towards Israel and the Middle East after radical, pro-Palestine candidates scored a series of triumphs and unseated two shadow cabinet ministers,’’ wrote The Jewish Chronicle.

Starmer has pledged to match the Conservative government’s record levels of funding for the Community Security Trust (CST), the body responsible for the safety of the British Jewish community.

On Israel, Starmer said after the massacres committed by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, that Israel had a right to defend itself and condemned Hamas. In an interview with radio station LBC in October,  Starmer was challenged by host Nick Ferrari about whether he supported Israel cutting off water and electricity to Gaza. The Labour leader replied that Israel “has that right” – something frequently brought up by many of his left-wing critics – but that everything should be done “within international law”.

However, the Labour leader backed the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to file for arrest warrants against Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence minister Yoav Gallant. He also called for Israel to cease its operations in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Labour’s manifesto called for the recognition of a Palestinian state as part of “a contribution to a renewed peace process which results in a two-state solution”, a policy identical to that pursued by the Tories.

According to British commentator Jonny Gould, ”sectarian voting has taken a hold in British politics. Jonathan Ashworth, a senior member of Sir Keir Starmer’s opposition and set for promotion in government, lost his seat to an independent campaigning for “Gaza”.”

He told European Jewish Press that ”all  across the UK, sitting Labour MPs have won but with hugely diminished majorities. With this large Commons majority Keir Starmer will not only have to contend with backbench revolts but also the insurgent Islamist protest voices led by father of the house, Jeremy Corbyn. ”

Starmer’s first meeting as Prime Minister will be with NATO partners next week. ”He must stand firm amid the noise. The Anglo Jewish community feels an additional discomfort since October 7th and a Starmer government will do little to quell it,” Gould said.