Exact numbers at the protest – organized by the Stop the War Coalition movement – had yet to be determined, with the Associated Press reporting that “hundreds” had taken part in the demonstrations, while the AFP news agency put the number at roughly 4,000.
Advertisement
The shadow Scottish secretary has said he will oppose air strikes against the so-called Islamic State group in Syria if there is vote in the Commons.
If Corbyn does impose a three-line whip and try to make Labour MPs vote against air strikes, Honeyman predicted that some of his frontbench team could quit.
Despite claims Labour’s shadow cabinet will collectively decide on whether to whip MPs into supporting or opposing Prime Minister David Cameron’s case for war, Ms Abbott insisted “it’s a matter for the leader what the whipping will be”.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who said failing to involve the RAF in the bombing campaign would damage the UK’s reputation and endanger British lives, hopes a Syria vote will be held this week. However the majority of his shadow cabinet are ready to back the bombing.
He has also canvassed the views of Labour’s national executive committee, while members of the grassroots Momentum group of Corbyn supporters have urged people to lobby their MPs against airstrikes.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly said he will not seek the support of the House unless he is certain of winning as defeat would hand a propaganda victory to the extremists.
Mr Byrne said of the Labour leader: “I don’t think that writing letters that prejudge the outcome, the conclusion of the shadow cabinet position, was a good way of approaching this”.
Shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer confirmed there were “significant differences” within the shadow cabinet, and he did not think it would be possible to reach a collective view.
MPs rejected strikes against Syrian government forces in a 2013 vote, but have since authorised action against IS in Iraq.
In an article for Huffington Post, Mr McCluskey – who endorsed Mr Corbyn’s bid for the leadership but has since criticised his performance – made clear that he thought David Cameron’s plan to extend air strikes from Iraq to Syria was “illegal and irrational”.
Not in recent memory has a British political leader been so widely supported by the party membership and so widely pilloried by his senior colleagues.
“There will be a majority of Labour MPs who will vote against this, even under free vote conditions”.
The veteran MP, who was a regular rebel on the backbenches, said: “I understand dissent, I understand disagreement from leadership”.
WHEN Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour party, the event caused widespread merriment, not least among his political opponents.
He said: “The problem that I think Jeremy has got, the problem that the leader of the opposition has, is that he has never abided by the discipline of the leader or of the shadow cabinet”.
Advertisement
“The Iraq factor is massive – it’s front and centre” for Labour MPs deciding whether to support action in Syria, according to Victoria Honeyman, an expert on British foreign policy at Leeds University. “It is incumbent on us all to ensure the country feels there has been the fullest parliamentary discussion of what you have rightly described as a highly complex situation”.
