This was Gaza over the weekend, underwater after very heavy rains. On top of everything else. The conditions there are utterly horrifying.
Back in September, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband referred to ‘the most unimaginable suffering and trauma in Gaza – death, destruction and dehumanisation on an appalling scale’.
I have no reason to suppose he was being dishonest in that expression of sympathy. Two months on, however, what has he done as Foreign Secretary to help the people of Gaza? Nothing.
That is not a rhetorical flourish. I mean literally NOTHING.
His September statement was specifically about imposing limited sanctions on illegal settlements in the West Bank – which, very dishonestly, he described as ‘a new comprehensive sanctions regime’. Nothing has changed in the West Bank since then. The war crimes go on day after day.
We don’t even know what the Foreign Office hopes will now happen to end the suffering in Gaza. To put an end to the ‘ethnic cleansing’ (Miliband’s words) in the West Bank. There is no action plan. No serious diplomatic outreach.
Both Trump and Netanyahu are badly wounded, but not yet terminally. So what will the Foreign Office do to restore the UN’s role in providing food, medical supplies and infrastructure support in Gaza?
What will the Foreign Office do to ensure that international journalists have access to Gaza?
What will the Foreign Office do to put an end to the sick travesty that is Trump’s so-called ‘Board of Peace’?
The UK is still a servile client state of the USA, so it would be unwise to expect too much. But there are so many things we can do, right now with Trump down if not out, from a humanitarian point of view.
The onus on Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham is now massive. I understand why there won’t be a complete reversal of Starmer’s unwavering support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. I understand why the word ‘genocide’ will never be uttered by either of them. I find it impossible to understand why they will continue – idiotically and with ever-diminishing credibility – to arrest thousands of people whose support for Palestine Action apparently makes them terrorists.
However, I’m not talking about the politics of this. I’m talking about basic human decency. About doing everything one can to address ‘the most unimaginable suffering and trauma’.
I have my doubts about Andy Burnham. But I know, personally, that Ed has a conscience. I know that he cares. And I know that he was devastated to see for himself the horrifying first-hand evidence presented to him by UK medics who’d been working in Gaza.
Hence my question to him: is that all you’ve got?
Jonathon Porritt 7 November 2026
