NEW: Andy Burnham has officially rejected Jeremy Corbyn's call for a public inquiry into "British complicity" in Gaza. The former Labour leader wrote to the PM in July asking him to back his Private Member's Bill for a Chilcot-style inquiry, which would look at any UK military, economic or political cooperation with Israel since October 2023. This would include the power to question ministers on the supply or use of weapons, surveillance aircraft and Royal Air Force bases. The idea was rejected by Starmer. The govt have confirmed in response to a written question today that their position remains unchanged under Burnham, saying an inquiry isn't necessary due to the "extensive mechanisms already available for parliamentary accountability and oversight". Corbyn said:“Andy Burnham rightly said that the last Labour government “got it wrong” over Gaza. But his words will mean very little if he doesn’t break with the last government’s shameful record of complicity, secrecy and evasion. "Many of us will remember in the aftermath of Iraq, the government of the day spent many years resisting attempts to uncover the truth. In the end, they could not prevent the inevitable. Just like Iraq, we will remember those who obstructed the path to justice."

🎥 “We want to go the Farage route, not the Lib Dem route.” Ashok Kumar of Greens for Palestine spoke to Novara Media about strategy behind the Green Party’s “Zionism is racism” motion, which took a year to organize and was designed to expose Labour’s politics. He said PM Andy Burnham’s response revealed him as little different from Keir Starmer. Inspired by Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed and its “strategy of conflict,” the idea is to set the terms of debate, provoke a backlash, and heighten contradictions to force opponents to reveal positions. Rather than chase more MPs by moderating its politics, Kumar says the Greens should use confrontation to shift the debate leftward and become an anti-establishment force. “We want to drag [the paradigm] to the left kicking and screaming.” @comrade_kumar_ | @novaramedia