UK Politics

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Andy Burnham Pledges to Expand Immigration Detention Centre Use (novaramedia.com)

submitted 15 hours ago by okwithmydecay@leminal.space to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk

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[–] Zombie@feddit.uk 5 points 14 hours ago

The mayor - highly popular within the party and considered to be on the soft left - voted in favour of the British invasion of Iraq in 2003 when he was MP for Leigh in Tony Blair's government.

He also joined Labour Friends of Israel, a pro-Israel group within the party, in 2015. This established him as a non-radical figure in contrast to his colleagues who were strongly pro-Palestinian, like Jeremy Corbyn.

Running unsuccessfully to be Labour leader in 2015, Burnham said his first overseas visit would be to Israel. He called the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement "spiteful" and said he opposed it.

At a leadership hustings, Burnham praised Israel as a “democracy that has a long history of protecting minorities and promoting civil rights” and said that the Balfour Declaration represented “an example of British values in action”.

But Burnham also marked himself out as a critic of the Israeli government.

Less well-known than his membership of Labour Friends of Israel is that he visited the occupied West Bank in 2012 with Labour Friends of Palestine.

In March 2015 he reacted to Benjamin Netanyahu's reelection as Israeli prime minister by calling the news "depressing" in a tweet.

"Netanyahu elected on pledge to build more settlements," he said.

"Palestine will need more international support."

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/how-andy-burnham-stood-starmer-over-israel-and-could-now-reshape-uk-foreign-policy