The Labour MP will be challenged at the general election for his stance on the war in Gaza, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

A coalition of pro-Palestine groups say they will run an election candidate against Tottenham MP David Lammy for his stance on the war in Gaza and for “receiving donations from pro-Israeli lobbyists”.

The Labour MP and shadow foreign secretary has caused anger in his constituency for what campaigners say is his failure “to condemn or even acknowledge Israel’s war crimes in Gaza” with several of his media appearances garnering criticism since the current war began in October.

Doug Thorpe, a representative from campaign group Transform Haringey, spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service on behalf of the pro-Palestine coalition about its plan to stand an independent MP against Lammy in the next general election, expected later this year.

Since Hamas’ attacks in October began the war, there have been mounting criticisms against Lammy and the wider Labour Party’s stance on Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Pro-Palestine groups including Haringey and Tottenham Palestine Action, Haringey Independent Socialist Councillors, Transform Haringey, and Haringey Justice for Palestinians, all held a public assembly this week (Wednesday 8th) to test support for an independent candidate who would be the “forefront of the pro-Palestine campaign” as well as addressing local needs.

A campaign called ‘Lammy Out’ was set up at the beginning of this year with the initial aim of discouraging voters from electing Lammy and other politicians who weren’t calling for a ceasefire in the first few months of the conflict.

But Doug said the pro-Palestine groups decided to try and find out if it was “possible to stand an independent candidate against Lammy” because they did not want to discourage people from voting altogether.

A public assembly test pilot was held in April, which had around 50 attendees, and helped establish three aims to address. First was to decide on the issues to target, then what type of candidate was wanted, and lastly whether the coalition collectively wanted to “go ahead” with who was chosen.

Doug said the process was still in its “early stages” and no candidate could be named but added that ex-councillors, current councillors, members of various action groups, and a local housing campaigner were among those in talks for the role.

Local issues likely to be highlighted include housing, the NHS, racism and migration.

Doug said: “We don’t want to pre-suppose what would come, the model really is to try and see what the community wants.

“The issues around Palestine will be in there because that’s where it’s all coming from. I imagine anyone coming to this assembly will be aware of this.”

Doug said the coalition really wanted to “tap the experience of the community” to make sure the independent candidate had “widespread support” and was “truly representational”.

He added: “We haven’t tried this before and we don’t know how it’s going to work. The process of doing this is as important as the vote you get at the end.

“Although we would go into a campaign trying to win it, the reality is David Lammy has a huge majority.

“However, if you have a campaign that has enough people, to have ward groups being able to knock on doors, this can go forward after the general election as a network that could be involved in other things.”

While initially rejecting calls for a ceasefire, the Labour leadership – along with Lammy – did eventually call for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in February, over four months after the war began.

But Lammy has also been criticised personally by the local pro-Palestine coalition for receiving “between £30,000 and £100,000” in donations from pro-Israeli lobbyists since becoming an MP 24 years ago.

Lammy was approached for comment but has not responded.

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