Keir Starmer faced a calamitous day at his party conference on Monday as delegates pushed through a defiant motion on Palestine and a shadow cabinet member resigned with a furious statement denouncing Starmer's leadership.  

Labour conference backed a motion urging the party to back sanctions against Israel for its illegal actions under international law, to stop the UK’s arms trade with Israel, and end trade with illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian territory.  

The vote is an embarrassment for Starmer who has downplayed the issue of Palestine since replacing Jeremy Corbyn, a longtime supporter of Palestinian calls for an end to Israeli abuses and military occupation.

And in a damaging resignation during the conference, shadow employment minister Andy McDonald said Starmer had broken his pledges to unite the party around socialist policies when he was elected leader.

McDonald said he was quitting because he had been told to argue against a $20 (£15) national minimum wage and against statutory sick pay at the living wage by Starmer's office.
 

In his resignation letter McDonald, who previously served on Corbyn's front bench team, wrote: "After 18 months of your leadership our movement is more divided than ever, and the pledges you made to the membership are not being honoured." 

Speaking at a Labour fringe meeting later that evening where he was met with a standing ovation, McDonald said the party needed to "tell the truth about what's gone wrong [in society] and be bold about how to fix it," but that Starmer had refused to do this as leader.

He added: "I told Keir quite clearly 'I didn't vote for you, I didn't support you, but I think you are going to win, so I will help you take forward the ten pledges that you stood on." But Starmer's policy pledges had been watered down.  

The Palestine motion points to recent human rights reports showing “unequivocally” that Israel has committed the UN-recognised crime of apartheid as evidenced by Israeli rights organisation B’tselem and Human Rights Watch.

The motion supports Palestinian civil society calls for “effective measures” against the building of settlements, demands the end to the occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza, and supports the right of Palestinians to return to their homes.