Labour has significantly shifted its language on Israel’s conflict with Hamas over the past 24 hours. But has it changed its position?

Yesterday Keir Starmer gave a speech to Scottish Labour conference in which he called for ‘a ceasefire that lasts’, adding: ‘That is what must happen now. The fighting must stop now.’ His aides have clarified that this is not a call for a ceasefire now, but a sustainable one, which means Hamas stopping its attacks on Israel and releasing hostages. But this morning, Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting told Times Radio that ‘objectively, Israel has gone too far’ and that ‘what we have seen are actions that go beyond reasonable self-defence’.

The government has also shifted in its language over recent weeks, with Rishi Sunak and Lord Cameron becoming much more comfortable in criticising and challenging Israel. In private, both reassure concerned pro-Israel Conservative MPs that they are still as committed to supporting Israel, and that they are merely shifting semantics. This is a similar argument advanced in Labour, with the party arguing that it isn’t dropping support for Israel’s right to defend itself, but instead is reflecting wider international concern among Israel’s allies about its conduct in Gaza.

The government has also shifted in its language over recent weeks

The pressure on Labour is much greater, and is reaching a new peak this week with a motion from the SNP on Gaza designed to make life uncomfortable for the official opposition. That motion, which will be debated on Wednesday and is not binding on the government, calls for an ‘immediate’ ceasefire, which is still a different position from Starmer’s ‘ceasefire that lasts’ which ‘must happen now’. Labour says it is acting as though it is in government, but the internal party pressure is a huge factor. Every syllable matters in this debate, even if the differences seem incomprehensible to outsiders. To summarise: the government wants Israel to show more restraint and for there to be the conditions for a ceasefire, while Labour wants the fighting to stop immediately and for there to be a sustainable ceasefire. Neither are yielding to calls for a ceasefire now, but one appears to be taking a stance with its domestic position in mind as much as the international picture.