Jeremy Corbyn: MPs must listen to party over Syria

But the Labour leader is still believed to want his party to take a position of opposition to military action, and has called for a two-day Commons debate to be held ahead of any vote.

He told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show: “We’ll have a further discussion on this”.

But Mr Corbyn said no final decision had yet been made.

In a letter last week to members of the shadow cabinet and subsequently to ordinary members of the Labour Party – amongst whom his support ratings have been steadily rising – Mr. Corbyn put forth his arguments on why he opposes intervention. The survey has been criticised as an attempt to use his grassroots powerbase to “bounce” the shadow cabinet into submitting.

“The thought that some Labour MPs might be prepared to play intra-party politics over an issue such as this will sicken all decent people”. “We expected the smears to come from the Tories and the media”, Aavash said.

Former shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna said yesterday that he would vote for bombing even if it means breaking the Labour whip. “I will make up my mind in due course”, he said.

The Labour leader vowed: “I’m not going anywhere” as the head of the Unite union Len McCluskey warned the party’s MPs against using the issue as an excuse to stage a coup.

The Observer newspaper reported concerns from a number of recent refugees from the Syrian city of Raqqa – a stronghold for so-called Islamic State – who claimed the militant group was keeping civilians to be used as “human shields” during attacks.

A row in Britain’s main opposition Labour party over whether to back air strikes in Syria has deepened splits over Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, while reviving uncomfortable memories of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Syria Solidarity UK published a statement on its website saying that they did not support the demonstrations.

This is partly why Cameron spent several hours taking questions from MPs Thursday as he sought to reassure them that military action would be accompanied by a major push to find a diplomatic solution to Syria’s four-year civil war.

Corbyn on Sunday highlighted the support he had from grassroot members, who helped propel him to a shock victory in September’s race for the party leadership, insisting that their “voice” must be heard. He added: “It is unlikely that we will be able to agree a yes or no answer”. “I think that would be wrong in this particular instance because I think people have very strong views one way or another”.

“I don’t think the case has been made because I don’t think the bombing of Syria will make any difference to the position of Isil/Daesh”.

“This is not about the internal politics of the Labour Party, this is about the internal security of our country”, he said.

“It may be that the shadow cabinet decides to have a free vote on this and allow people to express their views”, he told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland.

The key question facing Jeremy Corbyn is whether he will let Labour MPs vote with their consciences or impose a three-line whip.

“I think it’s been handled appallingly”.

“I’ve said to Jeremy, if you end up like Michael Foot and Gordon Brown and (Ed) Miliband, as a liability to the party, if you are far less popular than the party when you are coming up to an election, then you have got to go, and I believe Jeremy understands that”.