Keir Starmer should remember he is the leader

All the papers, in UK and the US, are saying that Keir Starmer is coming under huge political pressure from within the Labour party to recognise Palestine as a state. And the same papers are suggesting he is close to giving into the pressure. Well, one predecessor of Starmer's, Maggie Thatcher, famously said "this lady is not for turning", and she stuck to her guns. Starmer should do the same. If he believes that it's too early to declare Palestine as a state, then he should remain loyal to his convictions and remind everyone that he is the prime minister and he has to take into account a whole mass of things, not just the simple idea of recognising a state that doesn't actually exist at the moment. I assume the Labour MPs demanding Starmer joins them have Gaza in their mind. But Gaza still contains thousands of Hamas members whom the UK government officially says are terrorists. So, how can you recognise Gaza as the Palestinian state under such circumstances? Starmer is right, the war has to come to an end and a brave, political and diplomatic decision then needs to be made by all leaders in the region as well as the US and Europe, about the way forward for the Palestinian people. If that ever happens, then that's the time for the whole world to recognise a Palestinian state. Doing it now is just gesture politics and meaningless. If Starner caves in under pressure it will be yet another example of our prime minister not having the strength of character and steel to stand up to his critics and fight for what he believes is right. And, by the way, if he gives in, he will seriously damage the relationship he is stoically nurtering with Donald Trump who would no doubt dismiss him like he dismissed Macron when he announced he would recognise Palestine as a state.