John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, admitted that Mr Corbyn’s election as Labour leader had been a “massive cultural shock” to many MPs, but he insisted “there is no going back”.
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“The Stop the War coalition picketed the Labour Party headquarters when we were trying to run a phone-bank for the Oldham by-election so they were preventing the election of a Labour Member of Parliament”, he told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show.
The abuse has provoked questions about the role of Momentum, a left-wing grassroots organisation which supports Corbyn and was set up after his election as leader in September.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith said talk of a reshuffle was “Westminster tittle-tattle”. “Stop the War is a democratic campaigning organisation and he has been a long-term supporter”, the spokesman said. However, Lisa Nandy, the Shadow Environment Secretary and a leading figure on the left of the party said that a reshuffle would do nothing to stabilise the party.
Mr Hunt, the former shadow education secretary who voted for bombing, said the vitriol unleashed within the party over the issue had “crossed a line”.
Mr David, speaking on BBC Radio Wales, said: “I’ve been accused of being a warmonger, a murderer”.
Writing in The Observer, he made clear that Mr Corbyn remained intent on transforming the Labour Party into “something more akin to a mass social movement”, adding “there is no going back”. “If that means going to a Christmas dinner and making that point then that’s fine”. He also attacked the group for an article which appeared on its website the day after the Paris terror attacks which claimed France had “reaped the whirlwind” of Western support for extremists in the Middle East. Referring to the latest “International Brigades” blog, a source said: “This is the second time this has happened, it won’t be happening again”.
The role of Momentum, he said, was not be campaigning on the selection or deselection of MPs.
“…Except that the worldwide jihad takes the form of solidarity with oppressed Muslims, rather than the working class or the socialist revolution”.
As anti-war campaigners pressed their case, SNP leader Alex Salmond claimed that “not one” of the seven ISIL plots foiled in the United Kingdom in the past year had been “directed from Syria”.
The MP, who backed air strikes. said her staff were scared to leave her constituency office.
Stop the War issued a statement tonight: “Tristram Hunt’s attack on Stop the War Coalition is unfounded and unjustified”.
“The new leader was also elected with an overwhelming mandate on a political programme that seeks to take the party in a direction that reflects the current views of party members”, he wrote. “For me and many others in the Labour party their conduct in recent weeks has brought them into disrepute, notably their comment after the Paris attacks and their veiled threats to harass MPs at their offices”, he said.
“Mr Hunt has been wrong about all the wars Britain has fought this century”.
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Stop the War’s convenor Lindsey German defended its actions, saying it was entitled to engage in peaceful protests and would continue to do so.
