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LONDON: MPs from the UK’s ruling Labour Party have urged government ministers not to meet with Israel’s president during his visit to London next week.

Isaac Herzog will spend two days in the UK, but there has been no confirmation from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office if there will be a meeting between the two.

Relations between the UK and Israel are strained after Starmer pledged to recognize a Palestinian state later this month if a ceasefire cannot be agreed in Gaza, amongst other criteria.

London has indicated that it will detain Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he enters the UK, after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest over allegations of war crimes.

Britain has also imposed sanctions on two extremist Israeli politicians, and Foreign Secretary David Lammy suspended around 30 arms export licenses to Israel last year amid fears that the equipment would be used to commit war crimes in Gaza.

Sarah Champion MP, chair of the Commons’ International Development Committee, posted on X: “The UK has recognised the ‘real risk’ of genocide perpetuated by Israel, so unless this meeting is about peace, what message are we sending?”

John McDonnell MP, former Labour shadow chancellor, said: “I am appalled at the decision to allow this representative of a government that is systematically killing Palestinian children on a daily basis to visit our country.

“The prime minister is proving to be absolutely tone deaf to the desperate plight of the Palestinian people and the overwhelming feelings of revulsion of the British people at the brutality of the government Herzog represents.”

Clive Lewis MP said: “Dialogue is one thing, but there are times when the act of meeting itself becomes a political statement.

“Clearly Herzog is not Netanyahu, their politics on many issues are at variance. But that said, the president’s own words have helped legitimise the collective punishment of Palestinians, language that international jurists have warned could fall foul of the genocide convention.”

The visit has also drawn criticism from politicians outside Labour. Calum Miller, the Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesperson, said Starmer needs to “seize this chance to state unequivocally to President Herzog that there must be an end to the suffering in Gaza through an immediate ceasefire.”

Former Labour MP Zarah Sultana posted on X: “Beyond disgusted that Israeli President Herzog is set to visit London next week to meet Labour ministers. The Labour Party is living up to its reputation as The Genocide Party.” She added: “Herzog should be arrested for war crimes the moment he sets foot on UK soil.”

However, Trade Minister Douglas Alexander told Sky News: “Diplomacy involves meeting people with whom you disagree, and the British government has very strong views in terms of the present conduct of the government of Israel.

“It is right that we are engaging with politicians from across the region, because the suffering is incalculable and it needs to stop … In order to get to a path to that two-state solution, of course you’re going to have to be talking not just to the Palestinians but also to the Israelis.”

His views were echoed by Emily Thornberry MP, chair of the Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee, who told The Guardian that “efforts should be made to engage” with Herzog.

“The only solution to this (war) is through politics, through discussion. Herzog is easier to talk to than many in the extreme rightwing government in Israel. But we mustn’t pull our punches,” she said.

LONDON: The UK’s deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, resigned Friday after an independent inquiry found that she did not meet the ethical standards required for government ministers over a recent home purchase.
Rayner, who admitted on Wednesday that she did not pay enough tax on her purchase of an apartment in Hove, on England’s south coast, earlier this summer, said the report found that she acted in good faith, but that, crucially, she should have sought more specific tax advice.
“I take full responsibility for this error,” she said in her resignation letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “I would like to take this opportunity to repeat that it was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount.”
In response, Starmer voiced his sadness but said Rayner had made the right decision.
“I have nothing but admiration for you and huge respect for your achievements in politics,” Starmer wrote. The handwritten letter signed off “with very best wishes and with real sadness.”
Rayner referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Laurie Magnus, on Wednesday, who delivered his report to Starmer on Friday.
Though Magnus concluded that Rayner had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service,” he said that “with deep regret” she had breached the ministers’ code of conduct. She said in her resignation letter that she also had to “consider the significant toll that the ongoing pressure of the media is taking on my family.”
In the UK, levies are charged on property purchases, with higher charges due on more expensive homes and secondary residences. Reports have suggested that Rayner saved 40,000 pounds by not paying the appropriate levy, known as a stamp duty, on her 800,000-pound ($1 million) purchase.
Rayner, 45, had sought to explain that her “complex living arrangements” related to her divorce in 2023 and the fact that her son has “lifelong disabilities” underlay her failure to pay the appropriate tax.
Rayner’s journey from teenage single mother to trade union official to lawmaker and deputy prime minister is a rarity in British politics.
Her no-nonsense attitude and plain-speaking manner have been a distinct — and politically useful — contrast to the more pragmatic, lawyerly Starmer and she will be hard to replace. She had the ability to connect with sections of the public that Starmer had struggled with since he became prime minister.
Rayner, who held the housing brief in the Labour government, had often railed against those who deliberately underpay tax, particularly those in the preceding Conservative administration, which Labour replaced in July 2024.
Her previous comments had opened her up to charges of hypocrisy, particularly from current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who said Rayner’s position had been “untenable for days.”
“The truth is simple, she dodged tax,” she said in a video posted on social media. “She lied about it.”
Rayner is a hugely popular member of the Labour Party and was widely tipped to be a potential successor to Starmer. In addition to resigning as deputy prime minister, Rayner quit as deputy leader of the party, meaning that members will have to select someone new.
Starmer is undertaking a shuffle of his Cabinet following Rayner’s resignation. He will be hoping that the political agenda can now move on after days of speculation surrounding Rayner’s future.
His Labour government has seen its support fall sharply since it won last year’s election following a string of mis-steps, particularly on welfare reform, and ongoing concerns about the scale of immigration into the UK, both legal and illegal.