On a night in which it secured a landslide victory the war in Gaza saw Labour lose a prominent frontbencher and helped Jeremy Corbyn beat the party he once led.
Leader Sir Keir Starmer was also heckled with shouts of “Free Palestine” at a polling station in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency and at his election count.
In the end, several Labour candidates lost to independents campaigning on a pro-Palestine platform, while Wes Streeting, set to become health secretary, had his majority slashed.
Most high-profile among those ousted from parliament was the Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth, who was unseated in Leicester South just hours before he had been expected to enter the cabinet.
He was defeated by Shockat Adam, who accused Mr Ashworth of refusing “to vote for a ceasefire to end the bloodshed in Gaza, resulting in the needless deaths of thousands of innocent civilians”.
Independents also beat Labour candidates in Dewsbury and Batley and in Blackburn and unseated long-standing Labour MP Khalid Mahmood in Birmingham.
New Blackburn MP Adnan Hussain said in a statement to voters: “I promise to make your concerns against the injustice being inflicted against the people of Gaza be heard in the places where our so-called representatives failed.”
Corbynite Labour MP Zarah Sultana said it ‘no surprise’ the party has ‘clearly lost support in parts of the country’ because of its position on the war.
Earlier this year Sir Keir changed his party’s position on the war, to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, followig immense pressure from supporters and some of his own MPs.
The party also faced setbacks in the local elections in some previously safe Labour areas, particularly those with large Muslim populations.
In its manifesto, Labour also committed to recognising a Palestinian state.
But the impact of the war helped former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn pull off a shock victory in his long-held seat of Islington North in London.
He beat his Labour rival by more than 7,000 votes, bucking opinion polls which suggested he would lose.
The long-time outspoken pro-Palestine MP demanded an end to the occupation of Palestinian Territories as part of his campaign.
But there was good news for Labour’s Paul Waugh who won Rochdale from Mr Galloway, just months after his shock by-election victory.
In February Mr Galloway, also a former Labour MP, swept to victory in Rochdale in February with almost 40 per cent of the vote, on a pro-Palestine ticket.
In Birmingham, Labour’s Jess Phillips also narrowly held her seat, winning 300 votes more than Jody McIntyre from George Galloway’s Workers Party.
Elsewhere, Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith on in Chingford and Woodford Green, a seat Labour had been tipped to take.
Independent candidate Faiza Shaheen, dropped by Labour just weeks before the vote, blamed Labour letting the Tory grandee return, saying it had split the vote.
She was dropped by Labour after liking a series of posts on social media platform X that allegedly downplayed antisemitism allegations.
She wrote on X: “Our vote was a combination of those appalled by how I was treated, those who took issue with having an imposed candidate who didn’t know us, those who were never going to vote Labour after Starmer’s stance on Gaza, and those that have never voted before.
“Labour split the vote the moment they deselected me.”
Labour also lost a frontbencher as the Greens took their number of MPs in Westminster from one to four, the most in the party’s history.
Green co-leader Carla Denyer beat Thangam Debbonaire in Bristol, while Adrian Ramsay won in Bristol Central and Waveney Valley while Ellie Chowns was elected in Herefordshire North.
The party also successfully defended its only seat before this election – Brighton Pavilion, which they had held with former MP Caroline Lucas since 2010.
The area’s new MP Sian Berry said: “We set our sights really high in this election and we’ve achieved everything that we set out to do.
“That feels incredibly good. It shows that there’s people out there really, really ready and crying out for our message.
“We’ve got a change of Government but that doesn’t change very much unless we can get some of the ideas in our manifesto into Labour’s programme. That’s what we’re working on.”
