I have relatives in Israel who are affected by the war, says Starmer

“No, no, they’re not Jewish for reasons I won’t bore you with. Bernard’s dad’s family didn’t accept that.”

The comment appeared to suggest an Orthodox definition of Judaism and hinted at historical issues around his Jewish father-in-law Bernard Alexander’s marriage to his late wife Barbara, who converted to Judaism.

They say kiddush regularly. “Pretty much every week” there’s a challah, Sir Keir said, adding that sometimes his wife's family come over to their north London home for Shabbat, or Lady Victoria’s sister joins them on Zoom.

The Labour leader has two children with his wife. In 2020, he said they were “bringing [the children] up to recognise the faith of part of their grandfather’s family, and it’s very important.”

“Just carving out that tradition, that bit of faith on Friday is incredibly important, because we get together and we do Zoom prayers now.”

This week he reaffirmed how important their Jewish heritage is, “We’re very keen for the children to know about it, to understand it. Half of the family are Jewish, they’re either here or in Israel.”

In the days after the massacre in October, Starmer told LBC that he and his wife “have a deep sense of shock at what is happening”. He went on: “I’ve never known a time of such incredible anxiety”.