Andy Burnham has been notably reticent to speak about foreign policy in the past few weeks. He and his team believed doing so would not help him win his by-election in Makerfield, a largely white working-class seat, according to Labour sources.
On a rare occasion that he was asked about the topic, he declined to say Israel has committed genocide, explaining: “I can’t judge things of that enormity from where I am as mayor of Greater Manchester.”
He said that “I do have concerns about the disproportionate nature of what has happened in terms of the destruction, and there has to be a full process of investigation and accountability.”
Israeli forces have killed more than 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 which killed 1,200 people, with a further 170,000 wounded.
But now Burnham is in parliament and poised to become prime minister as early as next month.
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He will soon be forced to turn seriously to the topic of foreign policy if he wants to appeal to the Labour membership, who overwhelmingly support stronger policies on Israel.
Pressure to appeal to the membership will be less strong if, as it now seems, Burnham will have a coronation and become prime minister unopposed, rather than having to fight a contest.
However, he will certainly be keen to win back the many left-wing voters who have abandoned the party.
‘Foreign policy isn’t a side issue. It’s about values, credibility and whose side you are on when it matters’
– Labour MP Kim Johnson
And Burnham has previously shown a serious interest in British foreign policy on the Middle East, and a willingness to take a more critical stance on Israel.
As a foreign policy issue, Israel has been significant in Britain over the past two-plus years because of its genocide in Gaza.
Labour lost more votes to the left-wing Green Party than to Reform at the local elections last month, polling has shown.
A study then revealed that over half of former Labour voters who intend to vote for a centre or left-wing party in the next general election cited Israel’s genocide in Gaza as a factor in their decision.
Labour MP Kim Johnson told Middle East Eye: “If Andy wants to win back traditional Labour voters, especially those who feel abandoned on foreign policy, he has to show the moral clarity [Starmer] has too often lacked on Gaza.”
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Johnson explained: “He needs to be prepared to say clearly what Starmer would not: that a genocide is ongoing and that Labour’s refusal to speak honestly and act decisively on about it has come at a huge political cost.”
She argued that “people wanted Labour to call it what it is, to stand up for international law and to listen to the Palestine solidarity movement.
“Instead,” she said, “that silence has alienated core voters and driven support away from the party.
“Take the May local elections for example – Palestine was on the ballot for millions of progressive voters. We lost 58 percent of the seats we were defending in England and lost almost four times as many voters to the Greens than to Reform UK.
“We cannot deny that Gaza is a major reason many have walked.”
Johnson emphasised that “foreign policy isn’t a side issue. It’s about values, credibility and whose side you are on when it matters.”
Burnham’s record on foreign policy
Burnham joined Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), a pro-Israel group within the party, in 2015. This established him as a non-radical figure in contrast to colleagues who were strongly pro-Palestinian, such as Jeremy Corbyn.
“Given Andy’s previous ties to Labour Friends of Israel,” Johnson said, “there will inevitably be questions about whether he’s prepared to take a different line when it counts.”
‘Respect for international law is measured by actions, not rhetoric. The next prime minister must not be an ally to atrocities’
– Rohan Talbot, Medical Aid for Palestinians
Running unsuccessfully to be Labour leader in 2015, Burnham said his first overseas visit would be to Israel.
But Burnham also marked himself out as a critic of the Israeli government. In March 2015, he reacted to Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection as Israeli prime minister by calling the news “depressing” in a post on X.
“Netanyahu elected on pledge to build more settlements,” he said. “Palestine will need more international support.”
Burnham told the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in July that year that he backed recognising Palestinian statehood, saying it was “not a gift to be given but a right to be recognised”.
He said “Labour recognises that the settlements and their continued expansion remain key obstacles to resolving the conflict.”
Chris Doyle, the director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu), told MEE that the next prime minister “will need to make a really significant course correction on Middle East foreign policy”.
Burnham is a longtime supporter of Caabu and visited the occupied West Bank in 2012 with the group.
“I’ve always been grateful to Caabu for facilitating a visit I made in 2012 with Labour Friends of Palestine to the West Bank,” Burnham said in March this year.
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“Caabu is a partner in parliament that many people look towards…. in these times that we live now, Caabu is needed more than ever.”
Doyle told MEE that a real course correction would entail “ending the climate of impunity that Israel currently enjoys, ensuring that when the government states it does support international law, it has meaning, and it is prepared to impose consequences on those parties, including Israel, who violate it.
“This means, for example, backing the International Criminal Court arrest warrants [for Israeli ministers]”.
It also means, Doyle said, “ensuring aid agencies get proper and full access to Gaza, including UN agencies”.
Doyle added: “We need to accept that we are a middle-ranking power, that we don’t have the ability to go and determine conflicts abroad.
“But where we can make a difference is through creative, imaginative, determined diplomacy rooted in international law, rooted in basic core principles of how to resolve conflicts.”
Policy pledges on Palestine
Burnham took a bold stance after the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, amid Israel’s ensuing siege and bombardment of Gaza.
As Greater Manchester mayor, he broke ranks with the Labour leadership by calling for a ceasefire, in tandem with London mayor Sadiq Khan and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
Explaining his decision in a column in The Independent, Burnham warned Starmer not to “brand” MPs who disagreed with the leadership on the issue “as disloyal or as if they don’t care about innocent lives”.
Caabu and the British Palestine Project have unveiled five “policy pledges on Palestine” that they call on the next Labour leader to adopt.
NEW: Labour party delegates have voted that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and should be sanctioned, in a shock development at the annual party conference.
MEE’s Imran Mulla (@Imran_posts) reports from the Labour conference in Liverpool pic.twitter.com/aTHSLPOEos
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) September 29, 2025
The pledges include “ban all UK trade with illegal Israeli settlement good and services”, “enforce international law”, enforce “unrestricted access for UN agencies and humanitarian organisations”, open occupied Palestine “to journalists, politicians and investigators” and “act with allies to end unlawful regional occupations”.
Doyle told MEE the next prime minister will need to resist “pressure, not least from the Trump administration, and “not just cave in” to American demands.
In the parliamentary Labour Party, calls have been mounting fr0m backbenchers for a full ban on the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements.
And recent polling of Labour members showed that a staggering 87 percent support a ban on trade with Israeli settlements, with only 6 percent opposing it.
Privately, MEE understands, Foreign Office ministers have accepted that a ban on settlement goods would be consistent with the British position on the occupied territories.
Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns at Medical Aid for Palestinians, said on Monday: “Whoever walks into Downing Street next must do what Starmer would not to end these horrors: stop providing arms to Israel, stop trading with illegal settlements in the West Bank, guarantee unrestricted humanitarian access, and ensure that those responsible for crimes against humanity are held fully accountable.
“Respect for international law is measured by actions, not rhetoric. The next prime minister must not be an ally to atrocities.”
