Labour Party

David Lammy held off the books meeting with pro-Israel lobbyist

Spread the love

https://www.declassifieduk.org/david-lammy-held-off-the-books-meeting-with-pro-israel-lobbyist

Sir Trevor Chinn avoids our questions about his political donations, 9 July 2025 (Photo: Alex Morris / Declassified UK)

We asked Sir Trevor Chinn why he’s donated so much money to Labour, after he held an undisclosed meeting with Britain’s foreign secretary.

David Lammy held an off the record meeting with Sir Trevor Chinn, an influential businessman and one of Britain’s leading pro-Israel lobbyists, Declassified can reveal.

The meeting took place on 11 February 2025 but was not recorded in official transparency data published by the Foreign Office.

Lammy’s sole public appointment on that day was a meeting with the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator to discuss “humanitarian crises around the globe” including the situation in Gaza.

The Foreign Office only released details about Lammy’s meeting with Chinn in response to a Freedom of Information request issued by Declassified. 

It said this was a “political meeting” and no minutes from the discussion were taken.

The Foreign Office also disclosed that Middle East minister Hamish Falconer met with Chinn on 18 March 2025 in another rendezvous that was not recorded in transparency data.

Lammy, Falconer and Chinn did not respond to questions about whether the meetings focussed on Israel.

Chinn said in 2013: “I’ve spent my entire life working for Israel”. Since the 1980s, he has funded Labour Friends of Israel and Conservative Friends of Israel.

He has played a leading role in Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), previously described by the Guardian as “Britain’s most active pro-Israel lobbying organisation”.

We confronted top Israel lobbyist about Labour donations

Doorstepping Chinn

Declassified recently revealed that Chinn – now 90 – met with a top British diplomat to discuss arms exports to Israel despite the government initially claiming the purpose of the meeting was “to discuss geopolitics”.

Chinn did not respond to Declassified’s request for comment on that story. So when we saw him disembarking a taxi outside the Chatham House think-tank in London last month, we quickly asked him for an interview.

Chinn, gripping a copy of the Financial Times, declined our request.

“You’re a very generous benefactor to the Labour Party,” we said as he was ushered inside. “What do you think about the situation in Gaza at the moment? Why do you donate so much money to the Labour Party?”

He ignored our questions, which related to his £50,000 donation towards Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership campaign in 2020.

Chinn’s donation was not disclosed until after the election had taken place.

He has also donated to key members of Starmer’s cabinet including chancellor Rachel Reeves, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, health secretary Wes Streeting, education secretary Bridget Phillipson, culture secretary Lisa Nandy, and Lammy.

Chinn entered the building on the heels of Israeli opposition politician Yair Golan, who was in the capital for meetings with politicians, including Falconer, and local Zionist organisations.

…

Article continues at https://www.declassifieduk.org/david-lammy-held-off-the-books-meeting-with-pro-israel-lobbyist

Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Continue ReadingDavid Lammy held off the books meeting with pro-Israel lobbyist

Israeli forces arrest journalist, injure others in West Bank raids

Spread the love

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Israeli forces detain Palestinians during their raid at the Balata camp in Nablus, West Bank on June 18, 2025. [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]

Israeli special forces arrested injured Palestinian journalist Muath Amarna, who lost one of his eyes in 2019 while covering events, on Wednesday evening. He was detained while passing along the road connecting the cities of Bethlehem and Hebron in the southern West Bank and taken to an unknown location.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian was injured by a rubber-coated metal bullet, as several others suffered from tear gas inhalation during clashes that followed an Israeli raid on Qusra town, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

Local sources said Israeli forces fired large numbers of rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at young men and residential homes. One young man was taken for medical treatment, while several residents suffered breathing difficulties.

According to the same sources, Israeli soldiers deliberately opened fire on homes in the southern part of the town and set up military checkpoints, disrupting the movement of residents.

The occupation forces and settlers have intensified their attacks and incursions into cities and areas of the West Bank since the launch of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation on October 7, 2023, coinciding with a widespread and devastating assault on the Gaza Strip that has resulted in the martyrdom and injury of approximately 219,000 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children.

READ: US sanctions 4 ICC judges, deputy prosecutors over Netanyahu arrest warrants

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Continue ReadingIsraeli forces arrest journalist, injure others in West Bank raids

More than 80 rabbis urge Israel to address starvation, denounce settler violence in Gaza

Spread the love

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Fourteen-month-old Hazar Arfa, receiving treatment at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, is in critical condition due to severe malnutrition, as Israel’s closure of border crossings and strict blockade severely restrict the entry of food and medicine into the enclave, deepening a hunger crisis that has devastating effects especially on children and infants, on August 15, 2025. [Doaa Albaz – Anadolu Agency]

A coalition of more than 80 international Orthodox rabbis issued a statement that urged Israel to address starvation in the Gaza Strip and condemn settler violence, Anadolu reports.

Former International Director of American Jewish Committee David Rosen shared on a joint statement Tuesday, “A Call for Moral Clarity, Responsibility, and a Jewish Orthodox Response in the Face of the Gaza Humanitarian Crisis,” on social media, that demanded Israel confront the widespread starvation in Gaza and denounce extremist settler violence.

“The humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza is one of the most severe in recent history,” the rabbis wrote in the statement, underlining that Hamas attacks do “not absolve Israel’s government from assuming its share of the responsibility for the profound suffering of Gaza’s civilian population.”

They noted that Israel’s “prolonged military campaign” has devastated Gaza and they urged the government in Tel Aviv to prevent the mass starvation.

READ: Germany slams Israel’s decision to call up 60,000 reservists to fight in Gaza city

“Amid this devastation, the absence of a clear post-war vision from Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu has allowed the most extreme voices in the Israeli government—including ministers from the religious Zionist community—to fill the vacuum with disturbing proposals,” they noted, stressing that the forced “voluntary” exile of Palestinians from Gaza was one of the proposals.

They said the future of Israel depends on its “moral clarity,” calling for justice, righteousness and peace for all.

Israel has killed more than 62,100 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

READ: 28 children die daily in Gaza due to malnutrition and lack of medicine: Officials report

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Continue ReadingMore than 80 rabbis urge Israel to address starvation, denounce settler violence in Gaza

One in five Britons would consider voting for a new left-wing party, rising to one in three young people and Labour voters

Spread the love

https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/one-five-britons-would-consider-voting-new-left-wing-party-rising-one-three-young-people-and-labour

A new Ipsos in the UK poll reveals that the left-wing political party recently founded by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and MP Zarah Sultana could capture a significant segment of the British electorate, particularly among younger voters and those who supported the Labour and Green parties in the 2024 General Election. 

Overall, 20% of British adults say they would be ‘very’ or ‘fairly likely’ to consider voting for a new left-wing party. This figure, however, masks a sharp generational divide. A third (33%) of those aged 16-34 would consider voting for the new party, a figure that drops to 22% among 35-54s and just 9% among those aged 55 and over. 

The potential for this new party to disrupt the existing political landscape is most evident in its appeal to voters of other left-leaning parties. One-third (33%) of those who voted Labour in 2024 and 43% of 2024 Green party voters would consider lending their vote to a Corbyn-Sultana-led party.

…

Commenting on the findings, Keiran Pedley, Director of UK Politics at Ipsos said:

These figures show that a new left-wing party led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana has the potential to shake up British politics. A significant number of younger people are at least prepared to consider voting for it and a majority of those aged under 35 say they would consider voting for some kind of alliance between the new party and the Greens. Clear policies around change, the NHS, poverty and wealth taxes could be popular. Time will tell if the new party can turn this hypothetical appeal into real votes on a significant scale.

Continue ReadingOne in five Britons would consider voting for a new left-wing party, rising to one in three young people and Labour voters

England to sell eight times more council homes than it built last year, report finds

Spread the love

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/aug/20/england-to-sell-eight-times-the-council-homes-it-built-last-year-report-finds

London’s Trellick Tower. The Common Wealth report urged the state to buy back and restore homes sold off under right to buy. Photograph: Chris Morphet/Getty

Depletion of social housing stock spurs calls for councils to have first refusal to buy ex-council homes entering market

England will sell off more than eight times as many council homes in 2025-26 as were constructed the previous year, research has found.

Right to buy is depleting council housing stock more quickly than public housing can be replaced, forcing people to spend more money on private market rents and obtain less secure tenancies, a report from the thinktank Common Wealth finds.

Its analysis of government data in England found that 38,170 social homes and 2,850 council homes were constructed by the government in 2023-24. In 2024-25, 2,260 council homes were built. There were 13,966 sell-offs of council houses through right to buy in 2023-24 and 8,656 in 2024-25. An analysis in the i Paper estimated that 18,500 council homes will be sold off in 2025-26 – more than eight times more than the number built in 2024-25.

The report concludes that if the government wants to increase the supply of social rental housing quickly, it must invest in buying back and restoring homes sold off under right to buy, alongside more council housebuilding.

Adam Peggs, the report’s author, said: “We need to pull every effective lever we can find to expand public housing. Council housing gave people secure, low-cost homes in the past. With the right framework, it can give people high-quality, genuinely affordable homes, with real democratic voice in the future too. But we need to build the political will to make it happen.

…

Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/aug/20/england-to-sell-eight-times-the-council-homes-it-built-last-year-report-finds

Continue ReadingEngland to sell eight times more council homes than it built last year, report finds