If you talk to any Labour backbencher now, they will tell you of the overwhelming pressure they are receiving from voters to take a tougher line on Israel.
One MP in a Greater London seat told me they had received over 1,000 emails from Palestinian supporting voters urging them to call for a ceasefire; just a handful were backing Israel.
'So far Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is holding the party's consensus on supporting Israel's right to defend itself so long as it acts in line with international law'
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So far Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is holding the party's consensus on supporting Israel's right to defend itself so long as it acts in line with international law, which he set out so eloquently - with his shadow foreign secretary David Lammy - at the party's conference this month.
Starmer has so far managed to walk in lockstep with the Government's position, nimbly moving this week to support Rishi Sunak's call for a "pause" in hostilities to allow aid into Gaza.
But how long can this last? Starmer himself has already infuriated pro-Palestinian supporters by apparently backing a water and fuel blockade on Gaza, only to reverse his position a few days later.
There have been reports of scores of Labour councillors quitting the party over the leadership's stance. And this week as many as three members of his shadow front bench have been on resignation watch.
The outward sign of the concern among Labour MPs is a Commons Early Day Motion titled 'Protecting civilians in Gaza and Israel'.
This calls "for the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to urgently press all parties to agree to an immediate de-escalation and cessation of hostilities, to ensure the immediate, unconditional release of the Israeli hostages, to end to the total siege of Gaza and allow for unfettered access of medical supplies, food, fuel electricity and water, to guarantee that international humanitarian law is upheld and that civilians are protected in accordance with those laws".
This is not Labour policy. Yet 38 of the 95 MPs who have signed it belong to the Labour party.
Yesterday Bradford East MP Imran Hussain - Shadow Minister for the Future of Work - became the first shadow minister to add his name.
How many more Labour frontbenchers will add their names to this motion, and undermine Starmer's authority?
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'Starmer is said to have made one promise to Sunak when the latter became Prime Minister a year ago: to support him on areas of national security'
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Just this afternoon, the two most senior Labour politicians in the UK who are not MPs, Sadiq Khan and Anas Sarwar, also came out in support of a ceasefire, further undermining the Labour leader's authority.
Starmer is said to have made one promise to Sunak when the latter became Prime Minister a year ago: to support him on areas of national security.
On the Israel/Hamas conflict, Starmer is sticking to his word. But it is proving difficult and will be seen as a test for voters pondering whether he has the mettle to lead the country, and face down voluble internal dissent in his own party.
