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Housing Secretary Steve Reed announced the publication of Philip Rycroft’s review into how other states have tried to “exert influence on, and to interfere in” the British political system.
But he faced criticism for failing to declare his affiliation with the Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) group, which has been linked to the Israeli government and was at the centre of a high-profile instance of “improper interference in our democratic politics” in recent years.
Martin Abrams, a Green councillor in London, said in a tweet that it was “incredible” that Reed failed to make clear his relationship with a group lobbying for the interests of a foreign power.
Noting that the Rycroft review fails to mention Israel, Abrams added: “It is simply shocking that the malign influence of Israel a country being investigated for genocide by the [International Court of Justice], whose Prime Minister and [former] defence minister are wanted by the [International Criminal Court] for war crimes, a country which is waging illegal wars in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon where at least 20% of UK Labour MPs and 80% of UK Conservative MPs are registered as 'Friends of Israel' are not in scope of this report.”
Reed has been on two LFI-funded trips to Israel and Palestine, according to his entry in the register of interests, worth a total of £3000. The first was in 2013 and the second was the year after. He has also been on two trips to Bangladesh, funded by Labour Friends of Bangladesh.
LFI is part of the influential pro-Israel lobby in the UK, which was found to have given funding to more than a quarter of British MPs in the last parliament in an investigation by Declassified UK.
The same outlet found that pro-Israel lobbyists had donated to 13 out of the 25 members of Keir Starmer’s first Cabinet after he became Prime Minister.
LFI found itself at the centre of a diplomatic row in 2017, when its then-chair Joan Ryan was found to have discussed a sum of “more than £1 million” to pay for MPs’ trips to Israel with Shai Masot, a political officer at the Israeli embassy in London.
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Masot was recalled to Israel after the damaging revelations from Al-Jazeera’s documentary The Lobby, which also saw him discussing his desire to “take down” Alan Duncan, then a minister in the Foreign Office and a critic of Israel.
The £1m sum was to be used to fund an LFI delegation to Israel, the Mail on Sunday reported at the time, though the organisation dismissed this as “totally untrue” and “utterly ridiculous”.
Emily Thornberry, then the shadow foreign secretary, described the episode as an “extremely disturbing” example of “improper interference in our democratic politics”.
Reed, who has held senior positions in Starmer’s shadow cabinets and in Government, has been hesitant to criticise Israel over the genocide in Gaza.
After other senior figures in Labour, including Sadiq Khan, Andy Burnham and Anas Sarwar, had called for a ceasefire towards the end of October, Reed defended the actions of the Israeli government saying that he wanted humanitarian aid to be allowed in “without stopping Israel taking action to disable the terrorists who attacked them in the first place”.
He warned councils in England earlier this month that they could face legal action unless they stop boycotting Israeli businesses.
Reed was the source of a story about Damian Egan, a Labour MP and vice chair of LFI, whose visit to a school in his constituency after the school learnt the backbencher would be met with protests because of his “support” for the Israeli government during the genocide.
He told the audience at a Jewish Labour Movement event in January: “I have a colleague who is Jewish, who has been banned from visiting a school and refused permission to visit a school in his own constituency, in case his presence inflames the teachers.
“That is an absolute outrage [...] and they will be called in, and they will be held to account for doing that, because you cannot have people with those kinds of attitudes teaching our children.”
In a subsequent statement, the school confirmed the MP had not been banned but that the visit had been rescheduled in light of the planned protest.
A spokesperson for LFI told The National: "LFI's funding comes from members of the Jewish community and those who share our commitment to the state of Israel. We do not receive any money from the Israeli government or the Israeli embassy.
"Labour MPs who participate in LFI delegations to Israel and the Palestinian territories declare the value of those trips to the Electoral Commission and in the Register of Members' Financial Interests. This information is publicly available and is in line with the practice adopted by other similar organisations.
"LFI arranges delegations to allow parliamentarians to better understand the complexities of the tragic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Participants meet political leaders in both Israel and Palestine, as well as representatives of progressive civic society organisations and those involved with peacebuilding initiatives."