And it came, naturally enough, as particularly sweet music to the ears of Tory MPs, in that it not only highlighted the current savage divisions within the Labour Party, but was delivered by the son of that great standard-bearer of the anti-war British left, the late Tony Benn. They are a really disreputable organisation.
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However Mr Wrack – a long-time ally of Mr Corbyn whose union recently re-affiliated to Labour – said MPs could not expect to be selected at the age of 25 and then remain “for the next 40 years without having to have some dialogue and debate with the people who put them there”.
He added: “The whole business of let’s deselect, all of that, let’s just get rid of that language, let’s talk about taking out the Conservative Government, let’s not talk about trying to diminish the number of Labour MPs”.
Of course, the Commons debate was not about whether we should fight fascism, but about whether dropping bombs on northern Syria would materially assist that fight.
Some Labour MPs have publicly criticised Mr Corbyn since he became leader in September, but Mr Watson said: “I think the vast majority of our MPs actually respect Jeremy Corbyn and what he stands for, even though they may be in disagreement with him on some issues – that’s politics”. The bullying of Labour MPs “flies in the face of everything” he believed in, he said, and there was no place in the party for those who engaged in abusive behaviour.
Caerphilly MP Wayne David has said he has been accused of being a “war monger” and a “murderer”, for his support of military air strikes in Syria.
In the end though – and despite Mr Corbyn’s success in winning majority support among his MPs and shadow cabinet – Wednesday night’s events marked a clear defeat for any idea of a “new” politics.
The shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith, who opposed airstrikes, said: “I think that’s a disgraceful thing to say, and I certainly wouldn’t support that in any way, shape or form”.
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, released a statement saying he would not tolerate abuse against MPs from any side.
Following the vote, the Stop the War Coalition condemned the “whining complaints from those MPs who apparently do not like being lobbied”.
“David Davis… said all of these votes should be free votes”.
“We specifically asked our supporters to emulate Jeremy Corbyn, and to keep their messages about the issues and to refrain from any personal attacks”, he added. “The selection of candidates is entirely a matter for local party members and rightly so”.
Hunt told the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1 on Sunday: “I don’t think that he should go there”.
Free Syrian Army spokesman Issam al-Reis told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that British air strikes “will not make a big difference”.
“We had a few pictures”, she said.
“It’s completely inconceivable for anyone to argue that there hasn’t been a well-organised, systematic and well-resourced attempt to bully MPs into voting against airstrikes on Syria”.
“His father, whose speech I heard in the Iraq debate all these years ago, would be birling (spinning) in his grave hearing a speech in favour of a Tory prime minister wanting to take the country to war and that’s just a reality”, the former SNP leader told the station.
The approach taken by Mr Salmond and Mr Kerevan contrasted with the more conciliatory tone struck by Nicola Sturgeon earlier this week when she described the difference between the SNP’s position and that of the United Kingdom government as a “honest difference of opinion”.
She said the abuse reflected “old-fashioned thuggery”.
“There is a procedure to deal with such behaviour by Labour members and that is through the NEC”.
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“If this is thuggery and intimidation the party should fling these people out”.
