Labour Friends of Israel's Board Is Mostly Non-Labour, Exempting It From Donor Disclosure

Labour Friends of Israel has sent dozens of Labour MPs to Israel, hosts government ministers at its events, and has publicly fought Labour's own moves to restrict arms sales and recognize Palestinian statehood. Under UK law, none of that requires it to say who pays for it.

According to documents obtained under freedom of information by journalist Solomon Hughes and reported in the Morning Star, the Electoral Commission approached LFI in 2024 and 2025 to determine whether the group qualifies as a "member's association," a status that would force it to register any donation above roughly £12,000. LFI told the commission that while some board directors are Labour Party members, they do not form a majority.

"LFI indicated that they monitored directors' party membership regularly to confirm this," the Electoral Commission wrote, citing the group's own statement.

That answer is what keeps LFI's donor list sealed. The commission's test hinges on whether an organization is "run mostly by party members." LFI's board, by its own account, is not.

Four of the group's five current directors do have public Labour ties, including former MP Louise Ellman, a Camden councillor elected in 2022, a lobbyist described by her firm as a former special adviser to Andy Burnham, and a marketing executive who helped found the Labour Women in Business Network. LFI told Hughes none of its board members belong to any rival party. But a sixth director who sat on the board until his death last year, property developer Sir David Garrard, donated to the Liberal Democrats and The Independent Group in 2019 while serving as an LFI director, after quitting Labour in 2018 over Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. Garrard later said he would rejoin Labour once Keir Starmer took over, and went on to sponsor LFI events.

LFI told Hughes its non-Labour leadership reflects the fact that "many British Jews felt unable to become members of the Labour party due to the toxic antisemitic environment which existed under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership." Hughes, in his column, called the explanation unconvincing given that Corbyn left the leadership in 2020 and most of the current board has been active in or positive toward the party since.

Electoral Commission filings show LFI reported £175,000 in donations between 2002 and 2025 without disclosing where the money came from. LFI denies receiving funds from the Israeli government. That money has helped send Labour politicians, including to meet Israel's president Isaac Herzog, whom a UN commission has accused of inciting genocide in Gaza.

LFI says it backs a two-state solution and has promoted Israeli opposition leader Yair Golan ahead of this month's election against Benjamin Netanyahu. It nonetheless opposed Labour's partial arms embargo, opposed recognition of Palestine, and questioned sanctions on settlement trade. The group is now campaigning for Labour to deepen UK-Israel military cooperation and keep Israel as a major arms supplier to Britain, according to Hughes's reporting.

Campaigner Andrew Feinstein has told Declassified UK that LFI is "very influential in the Labour Party and British politics" and that its secret donor base is "very problematic" given that influence.