In this View from 22 podcast special, Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and I discuss the implications of the Commons vote and what the shadow foreign secretary’s address means for the Labour party.
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The powerful speech came at the end of a ten-and-a-half hour debate on whether the United Kingdom should extend air strikes to ISIS targets in Syria.
He said: “I support the right of those MPs who voted with the Tories last night to do so, if that’s what they believe”.
Revealing that he had received a death threat for his anti-war stance, the shadow chancellor said: “All of that intimidation is not acceptable”.
The “Left Unity” group have posted the list of the 66 Labour MPs who voted for airstrikes, branding them “warmongers” alongside the slogan “deselect them now”.
While Mr Cameron condeded that the 70,000 ground troops were “not ideal” and “not as many as we would have liked’, the information from the intelligence committee gave him confidence”.
Former First Minister Alex Salmond later said in a radio interview that Mr Benn would be “birling in his grave” at the speech.
Mr Burnham responded: “I think that’s a disgraceful thing to say on a day like today, because we had a free vote in Parliament – there wasn’t a party line”.
Addressing his party directly, Benn said: “We must now confront this evil”.
Mr McDonnell said any complaints would be investigated and members using “unacceptable” bullying or abuse on either side of the debate would face disciplinary action.
As the 62-year-old returned to his seat next to a grim-faced Corbyn, both sides of the House of Commons broke out into a rare round of applause with members shouting “more” and some even reduced to tears, according to Labour MP Angela Smith. “It is now time for us to do our bit in Syria and that is why I ask my colleagues to vote for this motion tonight”.
“They hold our belief in tolerance and decency in contempt”.
“And what we know about fascists is that they need to be defeated and it is why, as we have heard tonight, socialists and trade unionists were just one part of the worldwide brigade in the 1930s to fight against Franco”, Benn continued.
“They hold our values in contempt”. “Several” MPs’ offices had been barricaded by protesters and one had her house surrounded, while others had been sent photos of dead babies and severed heads, he told the Commons.
“If they are Labour Party members, we have disciplinary processes and they will take place”.
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Conservative Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called it “one of the truly great speeches” in parliamentary history, a view echoed by commentators and politicians of all stripes.
