In a piece for the Daily Sceptic last year, I outlined the existential crisis facing Labour. While the party was still enjoying moderate support in the opinion polls, practically all major, left-wing social media activists had abandoned them. This most important reason for this was simple: Labour’s stance on Gaza.

Ordinary left-wing voters care primarily about issues like the NHS and the cost of living. However, the sorts of people who shape public opinion — influencers, journalists and campaigners — care a great deal about Gaza. And they are very dissatisfied with Labour’s stance on the issue. As a consequence, they’ve largely shifted to supporting other parties, notably the Greens.

Now Labour’s problems seem to be getting worse. Since the start of the Iran War, Sir Keir Starmer has tried to position himself as a stalwart defender of British national interests, steadfastly refusing to join the much-criticised US-Israeli bombing campaign. But the left-wing social media activists aren’t buying it.

In a viral tweet posted at the end of March, Starmer claimed that “we aren’t getting dragged into the Middle East conflict” because “I will always make decisions that are in the national interest”.

However, the tweet got heavily ratioed by thousands of negative comments. All the most popular ones were comments from large, left-wing accounts denouncing the Prime Minister for allowing US bombers to take off from British airfields.

After all, the Government had initially refused the use of British airfields on the grounds that any bombing campaign would violate international law, only to backtrack after a phone call with Trump. And several European countries have gone as far as denying their airspace to the Americans.

Meanwhile, Zack Polanski, Jeremy Corbyn and other popular left-wing politicians have been repeatedly pointing out Britain’s obvious complicity in the war. (Starmer’s own net approval rating is hovering at minus fifty.) Suppose that Ireland allowed Russia to use Irish airfields to strike Britain. Would we say that Ireland had ‘not been dragged into the conflict’? It’s preposterous — and the left-wing influencers aren’t fooled.

A YouGov poll asked Britons whether they supported the US-Israeli bombing campaign. A majority of all voters and an overwhelming majority of left-wing voters — 80% of Labour voters, 86% of Lib Dems and 88% of Greens — said they opposed it.

Read More: Keir Starmer’s Iran Problem