Dozens of members of Sir Keir’s own Holborn and St Pancras Labour Party have written to the Camden New Journal this week, slamming their MP’s decision to sack Nadia Whittome, Olivia Blake and Beth Winter from his front bench over their opposition to the Overseas Operations Bill. The letter highlighted what the members see as Sir Keir flip-flopping on his election pledges…

“During his campaign to become Labour leader, Sir Keir set out 10 pledges. The fourth pledge read: “No more illegal wars. Introduce a Prevention of Military Intervention Act and put human rights at the heart of foreign policy. Review all UK arms sales and make us a force for international peace and justice.”

Local members have the opportunity to deselect their MP a year before a general election…

The core ten pledges Sir Keir made just a few months ago also included “Abolish Universal Credit”, “Support the abolition of tuition fees”, “Increase income tax”, “Support common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water; end outsourcing in our NHS, local government and justice system.”, “Full voting rights for EU nationals. Defend free movement as we leave the EU.” Might be worth keeping an eye on those from Sir Flip Flop…

Read the CLP members’ angry letter in full here…

As members of Holborn & St Pancras Constituency Labour Party we are deeply e troubled by Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to whip Labour MPs into abstaining on the Overseas Operations Bill at its first reading in parliament last week. We note that the bill would effectively decriminalise torture, make it harder for veterans to take legal action against the government, and obstruct the investigation of war crimes.

We consider the sacking of Nadia Whittome, Olivia Blake and Beth Winter from their respective shadow ministerial roles for voting against this bill to be inexcusable; we salute their courageous and principled stand. Whatever reasons the Labour leadership may have had for abstaining, they are unclear to us. They also seem to be at odds with Sir Keir’s own distinguished record as a human rights lawyer, as well as his very recently pledged policy priorities.

During his campaign to become Labour leader, Sir Keir set out 10 pledges. The fourth pledge read: “No more illegal wars. Introduce a Prevention of Military Intervention Act and put human rights at the heart of foreign policy. Review all UK arms sales and make us a force for international peace and justice.”

We acknowledge the difficulty entailed in opposing a government with as formidable a majority as this one enjoys and regret that our party in parliament will lose many of the battles it fights. Nonetheless on such fundamental questions as torture, protection of veterans, and the investigation of war crimes, we expect the leader of our party — and our MP to stand up boldly for socialism, peace, and justice.

We applaud those Labour MPs who did so in voting against the Overseas Operations Bill. We hope that Sir Keir takes inspiration from their leadership and offers unwavering opposition to all future readings of this harmful Tory legislation.