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We're a Bunch of Weirdos

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Hi! We're a fairly diverse plural system with various origins and interests! ADHD, autism, likely BPD. Uhm... Yeah, gonna work on this a bit more soon?



AtFruitBat
@AtFruitBat

Which I'm not surprised by, though of course it's disappointing. But you wouldn't expect the Tories (being a sociopathic lot in the main) to vote for a ceasefire. And Starmer certainly wouldn't. Either he believes in waging war or he hasn't the bottle to oppose it.

But the Labour MPs who voted to support a ceasefire have made some very good points in the process. Those points need to be made - someone needs to be talking sense, needs to be looking at things in a humane way, needs to be voicing the deadly consequences of prolonging the violence, needs to be speaking up for the around 1 million children living in Gaza, even if the majority refuses to listen.

After the vote, Shah said: “We have to make our positions clear … our job in parliament is to use our platforms to convince people, which is what I did in the chamber earlier.

“I’m not alone in calling for a ceasefire … my inbox has thousands of emails about a ceasefire,” she told Sky News. “This is an issue that the British public feel strongly about.

“At some point there will be a ceasefire. Had we called for a ceasefire yesterday, 144 children might still be alive. A child dies every 10 minutes.”

Earlier, she told the Commons: “Our values push us to do better and this is why, despite all the risk to our personal positions, we must do what is right.

“Whilst it may be a matter of convention to follow our closest ally, the US, in interests of foreign policy, it is a matter of conscience to step away from our closest ally in the interests of peace.

“We know that eventually there will be a ceasefire in this current crisis – every war ends with a cessation of hostilities.

“The question is not if there will be a ceasefire but when. For the people of Palestine, every minute, every hour, every day we wait is another orphan, another grieving mother and another family wiped out.”

The Guardian understands that Khan notified Starmer of his intention to vote for a ceasefire not long before he spoke in the Commons. It is understood Khan was asked if there was anything the leadership could do to change his mind.

Khan told the Commons: “If we had a ceasefire yesterday, 144 Gazan children would still be alive today. Israel has already crossed every red line imaginable and broken international humanitarian laws.”


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in reply to @AtFruitBat's post:

Some surprises in this one- didn't expect Jess Phillips to defy the whip.
credit where credit's due on that.
Absolutely sickening behaviour from Helen Hayes, who tries to have her cake and eat it by 'calling for a ceasefire' but refusing to actually vote for it.

honestly tired of people who claim that they want a ceasefire but refuse to do anything, including their literal jobs to pressure for one.

Things are never going to improve if we let representatives game the system like this.

I was surprised about Phillips too - glad to see she did that. Hayes probably not brave enough. It takes guts to flout the party line. Not everyone has that in the end.

I could hope that the Labour MPs who get returned in the next election are the ones who took a stand on this. I've long ago stopped expecting Stamer's Labour will be a proper change, but if there are some MPs in the party who have the backbone to stand up like this, even when it's going to cost them, then that's something.