British Jews are “living in fear” amid a “daily drumbeat of abuse and intimidation”, MPs were told at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs).
Hendon MP, David Pinto-Duschinsky, told the House he was proud that his seat was located “at the heart of the UK's largest Jewish community in the London Borough of Barnet”.
However, the Jewish Labour MP used the occasion, one of Sir Keir Starmer’s last PMQ sessions at the dispatch box, to highlight the intimidation faced by his Jewish constituents, saying that many are “living in fear”.
“In north west London in recent months we have seen Jewish charities firebombed, synagogues attacked, Jewish people stabbed in the street, and all that against the backdrop of a daily drumbeat of abuse and intimidation”, Pinto-Duschinsky told the Commons.
Last night, I met with senior police officers and leaders of a number of shuls in Hendon and Edgware to discuss measures to protect our Jewish community and today I raised the issue again directly with the Prime Minister at his weekly questions. I’m determined to do all I can to… pic.twitter.com/C8AV17fXng
— David Pinto-Duschinsky MP (@DavidPintoD) June 24, 2026
“I know everyone on these benches is determined to defeat this despicable hatred, and I welcome the actions the government is taking to root out the poison of antisemitism,” he went on, before asking what the government was doing “not only to protect the Jewish community in Hendon and Barnet, but to make sure they, we, can live full and proud Jewish lives, free from fear”.
Starmer replied that he thought antisemitism was a “poison”, adding “that is why I drove it out of the Labour Party” and that the government was “acting to drive it out of society”.
The prime minister said this was being done through measures including “new powers to ban repeated protests, new plans to root antisemitism out of our schools, universities, and the health service, and new prescription-like powers to clamp down on malign state activity, which incites hatred and violence”, before adding that the government would take “further steps”.
“I am proud to lead this tolerant, decent country, and will always fight for the security, safety, and freedom of British Jews”, Starmer concluded.
This session of PMQs was the first since the prime minister announced his decision to resign, with the expectation that he will be succeeded by Andy Burnham, who was sworn in as the new MP for Makerfield on Monday.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch teased Starmer about this during their exchanges, commenting: “I want to start by congratulating the Prime Minister. He's the other party leader who won a by-election last week, although I think I'm much happier with my new MP.”
Badenoch then launched into brutal attacks on members of Starmer’s government, including the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, whom she accused of “putting up bills and killing jobs”.
She then described him as a "failed Labour leader, rejected by the electorate, brought back from the wilderness by this man [Starmer], and when the going got tough, he jumped into bed with the Mayor of Manchester. It's not the first time he's betrayed someone close to him, is it?", she said, referencing his decision to stand in the Labour leadership election of 2010 against his brother David.
The Conservative leader then attacked Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, as a “spiteful class warrior” and said that her tenure in post had been “a disaster”, before turning her fire on the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Referencing Labour MPs rebelling against welfare reform proposals, she told MPs: "There were times when the prime minister tried to do the right thing. He did try to cut welfare. And who stopped him? Those MPs behind him... Does the Prime Minister feel betrayed by the people he got into Parliament?"
At that point, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle interjected to appeal for calm: "When we leave this chamber, don't be surprised when constituents feel they can use the same language against each other."
Starmer responded to Badenoch: “I was trying to do all of this with as much good grace as I could, but I shall certainly miss these exchanges.”
He then said he was “proud” of all MPs elected during Labour’s landslide victory, reminding Badenoch: “We inflicted the biggest loss on the Tory party opposite in the history of their party.”
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