Middle East a focus for Starmer as he 'sends message' with early calls

New UK Prime Minister warns against wider conflict in Lebanon in flurry of calls with world leaders

Keir Starmer speaks on the phone to US President Joe Biden from his office in No 10 Downing Street. Photo: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street

Early calls to Middle East leaders by Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer are a sign the region will be high on the Labour government’s agenda, a security expert has said.

Mr Starmer spoke to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas within 48 hours of entering No 10 Downing Street.

Amid fears of a wider Middle East war, Mr Starmer “clearly wanted to send a message” to Israel by urging restraint on its border with Lebanon, said Malcolm Chalmers of the Royal United Services Institute think tank.

Mr Starmer told Mr Abbas that Palestinians had the “undeniable right” to statehood, after an election in which Labour lost seats to pro-Gaza independents even as it romped to victory nationally.

The Middle East conflict is an area that will "take up quite a lot of attention” for the new government, said Mr Chalmers, a former adviser to foreign secretaries Jack Straw and Margaret Beckett.

As well as the "obvious suspects" on the new Prime Minister's call list, it was "also quite significant" that he spoke to the UAE President, Mr Chalmers told a Rusi event on Monday.

"It’s clear that for this government, [the Middle East] is an issue which it will need to devote quite a bit of political attention to."

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Ministerial appointments continued on Monday, with Anneliese Dodds made a junior minister in the Foreign Office under Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Vernon Coaker, a veteran of the last Labour government under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, was made a minister of state for defence.

Mr Starmer was spending Monday visiting the devolved governments of Northern Ireland and Wales as part of a drive to "reset" relations between the UK nations.

He will make his first appearance as a world leader at a Nato summit in Washington this week, having already spoken to several allied leaders.

In his call with Mr Netanyahu he said the situation on Israel's border was "very worrying" and said it was "crucial all parties acted with caution".

On Gaza he "set out the clear and urgent need for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and an immediate increase in the volume of humanitarian aid reaching civilians", Downing Street said.

In his call with Sheikh Mohamed he agreed to "deepen co-operation" with the UAE and hailed the outcome of the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai last year.

Asked by The National about Britain's influence in the region, Mr Chalmers said there "may be some issues" on which Britain under Labour departs from US policy on Gaza.

These could include Britain's funding for Palestinian aid agency UNRWA and its stance on the International Criminal Court's investigation into Mr Netanyahu and Hamas leaders.

There could even be a review of arms exports to Israel but “my instinct is that this government will not want to distance itself too much from the European mainstream", he said.

But "if there is a large-scale attack on Lebanon in the coming months – which certainly a lot of Israelis are talking about, and it may happen – then the visibility of that will suddenly increase manifold.

“It’ll be very difficult to evacuate UK nationals who remain in Lebanon. The route to Syria is not as available as it was the last time there was a war. That will be a challenge for our armed forces."

In last Thursday's election Labour's vote share crashed in areas with a large Muslim population, as independent pro-Gaza candidates flourished.

Labour lost several seats once considered safe in the Midlands and north of England, while former leader Jeremy Corbyn won his north London seat as an independent.

Pro-Palestinian campaigners rallied again in London on Saturday as they vowed to keep up pressure on the new government to end arms sales and push for a ceasefire.

"We’re not going away. You need to ensure that the UK ceases to be complicit in the oppression of the Palestinian people," said campaign organiser Ben Jamal.