Who are the rebel Labour MPs that resigned over the vote for a Gaza ceasefire?

A wave of Labour frontbenchers have defied Sir Keir Starmer to vote for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Labour MPs were ordered to abstain on the SNP motion calling for a ceasefire and told instead to back Sir Keir’s position calling for longer “humanitarian pauses”.

In a blow to Sir Keir’s authority, 56 Labour MPs backed the SNP position despite Labour’s stance.

Politics latest: Starmer’s stance on Gaza prompts rebellion

Some resignations were expected – but in total eight shadow ministers quit as well as two parliamentary private secretaries.

Who are they?

Jess Phillips

Shadow home office minister Jess Phillips was the most high-profile MP to resign, leaving the Labour frontbench and her role of shadow domestic abuse and safeguarding minister.

In her resignation letter, the Birmingham Yardley MP wrote: “On this occasion I must vote with my constituents, my head, and my heart which has felt as if it were breaking over the last four weeks with the horror of the situation in Israel and Palestine.”

Ms Phillips has been a fierce critic of Israel’s military action, saying it will end in only “death and destruction”.

She told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “I personally don’t see killing hundreds, and what will turn out to be tens of thousands of people, within a few short weeks, as a military objective that leads to any sort of long-term status of security for Israeli people.

“I maintain there has got to be peaceful political solutions negotiated to try and bring an end to the killing.”

Naz Shah

MP for Bradford West Naz Shah has been in parliament since 2015, when she won her seat off George Galloway, leader of the Respect party.

She was the shadow minister for crime reduction and previously held roles as the shadow minister for community cohesion and shadow women and equalities minister.

Ms Shah said her email inbox was full of messages from constituents who agree with her position.

She told the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge: “We have to make our positions clear… our job in parliament is to use our platforms to convince people, which is what I did in the chamber earlier.

“At some point there will be a ceasefire. Had we called for a ceasefire yesterday, 144 children might still be alive. A child dies every 10 minutes.”

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Afzal Khan

Afzal Khan became Manchester’s first Muslim MP when he won the seat for Manchester Gorton in 2017.

He most recently served as shadow minister for export and also held shadow minister roles under Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr Khan said he has been an “ardent supporter of Palestinian rights and an advocate for a viable two-state solution for the past 30 years” and has worked to those ends both as an MP and before that as a Member of the European Parliament.

In his resignation letter he wrote: “Witnessing the killing of thousands of children and the deliberate targeting of schools, hospitals, refugee camps, UN buildings and residential buildings, I cannot in good conscious not actively support the call for a ceasefire.

“I believe it is up to each and every one of us in a position of power to call out the killing of innocent civilians – which every Labour MP has done – and to advocate for the course of action we each feel will have the best results.

Yasmin Qureshi

Yasmin Qureshi became MP for Bolton South East in 2010 and served as shadow women and equalities minister, and before that shadow international development minister.

In her resignation letter, Ms Qureshi referenced her career as a barrister, saying she had spent much of her working life “speaking up for the marginalised and most vulnerable in our society”.

“I will therefore return to the backbenches to advocate more freely for a ceasefire and stand up for the Labour values I have always believed in,” she wrote.

“Along with the UN and other humanitarian agencies, I believe that the scale of need is so high that ‘pauses’ cannot offer the time and security needed to meet even basic civilian needs. Anything short of a ceasefire will lead to the loss of more lives.”

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Paula Barker

Paula Barker became MP for Liverpool Wavertree at the 2019 general election after a three-decade career in local government and public services.

She was appointed shadow minister for homelessness and then served as shadow minister for devolution.

She said she was resigning “as a consequence of following my conscience”.

In a statement on her resignation, she said her office had been “overwhelmed with correspondence” from constituents who “have made their views and strength of feeling on this matter very clear – and I share that strength of feeling”.

She said she condemned Hamas’s October 7 attack but for Israel, “self-defence is not a blank cheque”.

“I want to see a bilateral ceasefire with the immediate and unconditional release of hostages,” she said. “Only this will provide the space for cool heads to come together to bring about a political and diplomatic solution to this conflict.”

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Rachel Hopkins

MP for Luton South Rachel Hopkins was the shadow minister for veterans until her resignation.

Ms Hopkins added her name to a joint statement from Luton MPs, in which they said the call for a ceasefire reflected what the “majority of the British public” wanted to see.

“We have worked every parliamentary avenue on these aims and have voted with our conscience, which is a feeling we share with our diverse town and constituents who want to see peace across the Middle East.”

Sarah Owen

As MP for Luton North, Sarah Owen also added her name to the statement co-signed by Rachel Hopkins.

Speaking in the House of Commons on 8 November, Ms Owen questioned the government’s position on calling for humanitarian pauses and said ceasefires “break down and are maintained again only with international support and pressure”.

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Andy Slaughter

Andy Slaughter has been the MP for Hammersmith since 2005 and served as the shadow solicitor general.

In a Commons debate, he described the plight of some of his constituents in Gaza, a mother and five children who made made it out “having experienced sights that no child should witness, literally walking past hundreds of dismembered and decaying bodies to reach safety”.

He called for all parties in the war to be subject to the judgement of the International Criminal Court.

Mr Slaughter is secretary of the Britain-Palestine All-Party Parliamentary Group and vice-chair of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.

Mary Foy

Mary Foy has served as the MP for the City of Durham since the 2019 general election.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, about her support for a ceasefire, she said it was backed by the UN and its agencies, over 700 NGOs, the Pope “and the majority of the British public – including 100s of my constituents in the City of Durham”.

She was Angela Rayner’s parliamentary private secretary until she backed the ceasefire vote.

Dan Carden

Dan Carden has been the MP for Liverpool Walton since 2017, and was one of eight newly elected LGBT MPs.

He held frontbench roles under Mr Corbyn and Sir Keir and was a parliamentary private secretary.

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