Badenoch slams UK recognition of Palestine as ‘disastrous’

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, has launched a fierce attack on the government’s decision to formally recognise Palestine as a state, describing it as “absolutely disastrous” and a move Britain will come to regret.

The condemnation came after Keir Starmer, the prime minister, announced on Sunday that the United Kingdom had joined more than 150 countries in recognising Palestine, a step he said was aimed at keeping alive the prospect of peace in the Middle East.

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In a video posted on X, Starmer said Britain’s recognition was not “a reward for Hamas” but a statement of support for a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict. He stressed that Hamas had “no future, no role in government, no role in security”, arguing that the decision was a pledge to both Israelis and Palestinians that “there can be a better future”.

“The starvation and devastation [in Gaza] are utterly intolerable,” Starmer added. “The death and destruction horrifies all of us.”

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Badenoch, however, rejected the prime minister’s reasoning, accusing him of poor judgement.

“Disastrous. Absolutely disastrous. We will all rue the day this decision was made,” she wrote in response to Starmer’s announcement. “Rewarding terrorism with no conditions whatsoever put in place for Hamas. It leaves hostages languishing in Gaza and does nothing to stop the suffering of innocent people caught in this war.”

The Conservative leader argued that Britain’s recognition risks emboldening Hamas while doing little to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. She also accused Labour of hiding behind symbolic foreign policy gestures instead of addressing pressing domestic challenges.

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Badenoch said the government’s focus on international moves such as recognition of Palestine exposed its inability to deal with issues at home.

“They cannot fix the NHS, so they push assisted suicide. They cannot create jobs for young people, so they give them votes at 16. They cannot sort out immigration, but they will recognise Palestine instead,” she said.

The opposition leader further attacked Labour for what she described as pandering to “student union campaigns to appease the hard left”, adding that Starmer was pursuing “hobby horses” that would leave “a huge mess for us to clean up”.

She also referenced the government’s £35bn reparations settlement with Mauritius and the decision to surrender control of the Chagos Islands as evidence, in her view, of a prime minister “with no plan for the country and no judgement”.

Britain’s recognition of Palestine comes at a moment of mounting international pressure over the war in Gaza, where Israel has been accused by critics of carrying out acts amounting to genocide. While dozens of states have taken similar steps in recent years, Israel and its close ally the United States remain firmly opposed.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has previously warned that recognition of Palestinian statehood without negotiations undermines Israel’s security and rewards Hamas. Washington, too, has reiterated that its position remains unchanged: Palestinian statehood should come only through a negotiated peace process.

As the war in Gaza rages and political tempers flare in London, Britain’s recognition of Palestine has already become both a diplomatic marker abroad and a new line of attack in the partisan battle at home.