Addressing MPs last week as he backed air strikes in Syria, shadow foreign secretary Mr Benn spoke of Britain’s proud legacy of fighting fascism during the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War.
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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. But he will not accept attempts to portray campaigning lobbying and protest as somehow beyond the pale. “What I’ve seen of the way Jeremy Corbyn has handled this in shadow cabinet is that he’s been very keen to stress respect for the different views”, he told BBC1’s Sunday Politics programme.
However many Labour MPs remain concerned after facing a barrage of online abuse and threats of de-selection if they voted for military action by pro-Corbyn supporters.
He also referred to a Stop the War blog posted shortly after the Paris attacks, which was quickly removed.
The vote laid bare the deepening rift at the heart of Labour.
“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”.
And he called on Mr Corbyn to distance himself from the Stop the War Coalition, one of the leading opponents of military action in Syria, accusing them of making a series of “ugly comments”.
However shadow chancellor John McDonnell – Mr Corbyn’s closest ally in his top team – said his position had been strengthened by Labour’s better-than-expected victory in the Oldham West and Royton by-election.
“Jeremy Corbyn rejects any form of abuse in politics from any quarter, ” the spokesperson said.
Labour veteran Ken Livingstone has also suggested the MPs that took the opposite stance to their leader – who is opposed to airstrikes – should be pushed out of their seats.
However Mr Hunt, who resigned from the shadow cabinet after Mr Corbyn became leader, insisted it would be a mistake for him to go.
“This platform explicitly seeks to transform the party from the traditional centralised party into something more akin to a mass social movement, responding to the rising demand for greater activist engagement”.
‘Also their comments about Islamic State, their comments about how the French nearly had it coming to them.
Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack has warned Labour MPs not to stand in the way of Jeremy Corbyn’s agenda for change.
“They are a really disreputable organisation”, he said.
Senior party sources played down claims that Mr Corbyn was planning a “revenge reshuffle” against Shadow Ministers like Mr Benn.
A press release said: “We did not picket Labour Party offices, we have unequivocally condemned the bad massacre in Paris, and we do not take a view on who should hold which office in the Labour Party”.
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A member of the Shadow Cabinet told the Daily Telegraph: ‘I don’t think it’s advisable, but [Stop the War] are his friends so he will go [to the fundraiser].
