Mr McDonnell has since expressed his sorrow on social media after MPs backed airstrikes by a 174-strong majority and 66 Labour MPs chose to back David Cameron ‘s stance in the free vote.
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“There are no doubt a lot of people there who are mildly eccentric but what we need is boots on the ground, getting voters who have been kicked off the voting list back and getting onto campaigning on exorbitant rents and all that”.
He added: ‘A firm line needs to be taken, a code of conduct around social media.
Several MPs including Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, Tory minister Claire Perry and anti-bombing Labour MP Shabana Mahmood congratulated Mr Benn on his closing speech.
Asked if he would like Mr Corbyn to do that, he added: “No I’m not calling for that…Jeremy has a massive mandate from hundreds of thousands of people in the Labour Party who voted for him, I think we as a party have got to do better, we can’t just look like a rabble”.
Many moderate Labour members fear there is a growing movement by Mr Corbyn’s supporters to deselect them from their seats for opposing the leader’s policies, especially if they voted for military action against Islamic State targets in Syria.
“We are here faced by fascists”, he told lawmakers.
Mr Watson said: “They look like a bit of a rabble to me, but I don’t think they are a problem for the Labour Party”, he said.
Addressing his party directly, the shadow foreign secretary said: “We must now confront this evil”.
However, some within the Labour anti-war camp believe deselection is a legitimate response to the decision of some MP to vote for the airstrikes on Isis in Syria.
Mr McDonnell responded: “What Jeremy demonstrated yesterday is an overwhelming majority in every section of the party – amongst the members, on the National Executive Committee and amongst members of the Parliamentary Labour Party and the shadow cabinet – he had a majority in every part of the party. I think they are a bit of an irrelevance in the debate”.
“They can’t speak English, they have never heard of Ukip or the Conservative Party, they haven’t even heard of Jeremy Corbyn”, he said.
A stark example of the disunity came as MPs prepared to vote, when protesters from Stop the War, a group previously chaired by Corbyn, chanted “Hilary Benn, shame on you!” outside parliament.
He said: “This is too important an issue to play petty politics with, but that is exactly what some SNP MPs have done”.
Watson said he was grateful to Momentum for releasing a statement which said that it would not campaign for the deselection of MPs.
The message is not thought to be linked to Momentum, but the MP for Southwark and Bermondsey South nevertheless called on Mr Corbyn to distance himself from the group to protect Labour MPs and councillors. “The selection of candidates is entirely a matter for local party members and rightly so”.
Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, an ally of Mr Corbyn, claimed Mr Benn’s speech “could have been the opening of a leadership campaign” as odds on him taking over tumbled from 25/1 a fortnight ago to 5/2 last night.
There are now widespread claims of bullying, including emails, text messages, resignation calls, talk of deselection, demonstrations outside constituency offices, graphic pictures of dead babies and personalised abuse. That was what killed us in Scotland as much as anything.
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However after a tumultuous week – which laid bare the deep divisions within the party – Mr Corbyn is widely seen to have emerged with his position strengthened and may feel emboldened to act.
