Zarah Sultana has become the first sitting MP to publicly criticise Jeff Bezos' new stake in Liverpool, posting on X the same week reports suggested the consortium could move from a minority stake to full control within a year.
The independent MP for Coventry South, who co-founded Your Party alongside Jeremy Corbyn, published a lengthy statement accusing the club of accepting investment linked to Amazon's work with the Israeli state.
Her intervention comes days after Fenway Sports Group confirmed the sale.
Why Zarah Sultana Is Criticising Bezos’ Liverpool Investment
Sultana opened her statement by saying she felt "sickened" by news that Bezos' consortium had bought roughly a third of the club.
She acknowledged that much of the early fan backlash had centred on Amazon's record with warehouse workers and trade unions, describing those concerns as legitimate before arguing that a deeper issue remained.
On X, she wrote: "Sickened by the news that Jeff Bezos’ consortium has bought roughly a third of Liverpool Football Club. Many fans have rightly focused on Amazon’s anti-union practices, its treatment of workers, and the fear that Liverpool will become just another asset in a billionaire’s portfolio. Those concerns are real. But there is something even darker at the heart of this deal."
She then pointed to Amazon's role in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud and AI contract the company shares with Google to supply the Israeli government.
Sultana argued that the technology is used in infrastructure linked to the war in Gaza and questioned what it means for a club built on Hillsborough solidarity to accept investment from a business she says is entangled in that system.
This isn't the first time Sultana has raised Premier League clubs' commercial ties to Israel. Earlier this month, she urged the club to review its commercial partnerships, citing a War on Want report accusing Premier League clubs of "complicity" in the conflict.
What's changed now is that Amazon's founder isn't just a sponsor in her eyes; he's a full-fledged part-owner. That shift, from commercial partner to shareholder, is what she's using to argue that the club can no longer treat the issue as a marketing problem.
What the Liverpool Takeover Option Means for Bezos’ Consortium
Buried within the ownership agreement is a clause first reported by The Athletic: 1892 Holdings, the consortium fronted by Amit Bhatia and backed by Jeff Bezos and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, holds an option to buy out FSG and take control of Liverpool within the next 12 months, should FSG decide to sell.
Liverpool's official supporters' union, Spirit of Shankly, also issued a statement this week, separate from MP Zarah Sultana's intervention, calling on FSG to explain the long-term implications of the stake sale.
The group said supporters would "most certainly do our own" due diligence regardless of the checks carried out by the club, and warned against football becoming "an arms race funded by mega-rich individuals or state-backed entities."
Spirit of Shankly has also written to the Independent Football Regulator seeking guidance on the ownership change, asking the body to consider the implications of the proposed investment.
Liverpool Remain Under FSG Control for Now
Nothing in Saturday's reporting changes who runs Liverpool right now. FSG remains in control, John Henry's group still holds the majority stake, and 1892 Holdings has not exercised its option to increase its stake.
But the combination of Sultana's statement and the ownership clause becoming public has turned what FSG may have hoped would be a quiet ownership update into a broader political story.
With Spirit of Shankly calling for regulatory scrutiny and an MP linking Gaza directly to the club's finances, pressure is likely to grow on Liverpool's board to address both the investment itself and the wider concerns surrounding it.
