A former chair of Labour’s Muslim Network, Khan has campaigned heavily on the issue of Islamophobia, urging the government to come up with an official definition of the form of discrimination.

Afzal Khan: Voice, Heart, Ceasefire

A pleasure to meet Afzal Khan at the Labour Muslim Network last week. Khan became Manchester’s first Muslim MP after winning the Manchester Gorton seat in the 2017 general election.

Afzal Khan, the MP for Manchester Gorton, has always brought to his politics what seems baked into his bones: a sense of principle mixed with a refusal to let suffering be abstract. Nowhere is that more apparent than in his work on Gaza — where he speaks the language of agony, but also the language of moral urgency.

Speaking Truth in the Commons

Khan has repeatedly used his platform in Parliament to demand action, and often chooses his words so the weight isn’t softened by distance. For instance, when presenting a petition for a ceasefire:

“Over the past four months, Gaza has been subject to unrelenting bombardment which, following almost two decades of siege, has created a humanitarian crisis. Almost 100,000 Palestinians have been killed and injured … with severe shortages of food, medicine, water and aid — with no end in sight.”
When he resigned from his shadow front bench position so he could vote for a ceasefire motion, Khan made it personal:

“If we had a ceasefire yesterday, 144 Gazan children would still be alive today.”
“History has shown us that military actions alone cannot resolve conflicts. Israel’s use of force will not resolve this one.”

Those two sentences cut to the heart of what he believes is being lost — not just lives, but any hope of moral clarity.

Human Stories, Not Just Headlines

He doesn’t deal in statistics alone. Khan brings forward individual tragedies to remind his colleagues (and the public) that behind every phrase like “humanitarian catastrophe” there is flesh, blood, children, and heartbreak.

For example:

“Zain’s story serves as a reminder of the human cost of political inaction and indifference. As an MP — but more so as a human being — I have a moral duty to not turn a blind eye to the suffering of our fellow human beings.”

Zain Arouq was a twelve-year-old, orphaned, searching for scraps of food after most of his family had been killed — and killed himself by an aid airdrop during that search. Khan used that story in Commons debates to demand not just sympathy, but accountability.

Where Humour, Frustration & Humanity Intersect

Khan is serious, but sometimes that seriousness comes with an edge — a human reaction to political absurdity or moral failing. In one Commons intervention, he said:

“An eye for an eye. We will all end up blind and that’s not the way forward.”

It’s a line that works: echoing a proverb, softening the hardness of the conflict with a warning of mutual destruction. Also a way of saying “violence is not just wrong — it’s self-defeating.”

In another interview, he reflected on the absurdity of international recognition:

“The world can recognise Israel, yet [it won’t] recognise Palestine! It’s almost like saying ‘I recognise the child but not the mother’. How is that possible?” (The New Arab).

What Drives Him

What comes through in Khan’s speeches and public statements is a combination of anger, moral urgency, and some impatience.

He repeatedly demands immediate, long-lasting ceasefire in Gaza.
He holds the UK Government to account — on arms sales, funding to UNRWA, restoring aid, protection of civilians.
He is unsparing in criticism when he believes red lines have been crossed: “Israel has already crossed every red line imaginable and broken international humanitarian laws.”

The Larger Picture

What makes Afzal Khan stand out in this moment is not simply that he frequently speaks out — many do — but how he speaks out.

He challenges both his own party and his government — willing to resign a post, to break ranks when he believes that morality demands it.
He doesn’t just play politics; he aims for moral memory, for the kind of action that makes someone look back and say “they did what they could.”

Meeting Afzal Khan