Meanwhile, former shadow cabinet minister Tristram Hunt has urged Mr Corbyn to pull out of a fundraising dinner for the Stop the War coalition on Friday, telling BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show the group had picketed the Labour headquarters when the party was trying to run a phone-bank for the Oldham by-election.
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“In my estimation, Jeremy Corbyn’s mistake this week was not imposing the whip on the war vote and not inviting those who disagreed with him to resign from the shadow cabinet, as he could have done, and represented a party as a coherant political party”.
Media were not informed of the event, but the Labour leader joined party colleagues of his at the shopping centre with the aim of raising money for Oxfam’s refugee appeal.
As a backbencher, Mr Corbyn famously introduced his “friends from Hamas and Hezbollah” militant groups at a Stop the War event. “But he will not accept attempts to portray campaigning, lobbying and protest as somehow beyond the pale”. Two MPs have reported death threats to the police.
His defiance followed Metropolitan Police saying they were providing protection for moderate East London Labour MP Stella Creasy.
Shadow energy secretary Lisa Nandy – who voted with Mr Corbyn on Syria – wanted against a shadow cabinet purge.
He made clear that Mr Corbyn remained determined to re-make the party in his own left-wing image and that of the grass roots activists who propelled him to the leadership.
‘They are a really disreputable organisation and I would hope that Jeremy would step back and not go to their fundraiser’.
But Lindsey German, Stop the War’s convenor, hit back, saying that Stop the War had not condoned any bullying or threats, adding that the protest at Labour HQ need not have led to the cancellation of any work inside the building.
Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn spoke of Britain’s proud legacy of fighting Fascism during the Spanish Civil War, and the Second World War in his speech to MPs backing air strikes in Syria.
Stop The War has said it has condemned terror atrocities, such as the Paris attacks, and has a democratic right to protest against military action.
He also referred to a Stop the War blog posted shortly after the Paris attacks, which was quickly removed.
“We do note, however, that unlike Mr Hunt we take the same view of the Syrian war as the leader of the Labour Party and the great majority of Labour MPs and members”.
An emboldened Jeremy Corbyn was today said to be contemplating a shadow cabinet reshuffle to remove some of those who supported British airstrikes on Syria.
The Labour leader stepped down as chairman of the organisation, which was formed in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks in the USA to oppose military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq, after he became Labour leader.
Labour has said it will not comment on newspaper reports that Mr Corbyn could seek to stamp his authority on the party after weeks of infighting by changing the make-up of his top team.
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That might involve a reshuffle, but after Labour’s success in the Oldham West and Royton byelection and Corbyn’s success in winning majority support for his position on airstrikes, even on a free vote, he wants to concentrate on ensuring that shadow ministers such as Hilary Benn reflect the leader’s thinking.
