Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet debates Syria air strikes

The shadow Scottish secretary has said he will oppose air strikes against the so-called Islamic State group in Syria if there is vote in the Commons.

Many shadow cabinet members support air strikes and are urging their leader to allow Labour MPs a free vote.

Amid the growing crisis, Mr Corbyn has pulled out of a planned visit to campaign in the Oldham West by-election in order to deal with the situation. He has the vast majority of Tory MPs behind him but cabinet ministers including Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, and Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, have been telephoning Labour MPs urging them to swing behind the government position.

A defiant Jeremy Corbyn has warned MPs plotting against his leadership that he’s “not going anywhere” after some called on him to quit over his opposition to airstrikes in Syria.

Mr Corbyn has “seriously questioned” the Prime Minister’s claim in making the case for airstrikes that there are 70,000 moderate Syrian fighters to take on Islamic State militants on the ground. But many of his MPs, including some in his top team, are demanding a free vote rather than one in which they are directed to vote against the strikes.

“I want MPs to be able to have full consideration, to make speeches, to make points, to ask me questions, to examine the Government’s case”.

If he denies his MPs a free vote and imposes a whip, MPs who support military action will face a dilemma. Because I don’t think there is a convincing enough plan about what happens next after that.

Shortly before the meeting, Labour released analysis of responses to a survey of party members, which appeared to show overwhelming opposition to the extension of military action, with 75% of a sample of 1,900 opposing bombing and just 13% in favour. Several shadow cabinet members who were previously undecided have told me they would now likely vote against interventions.

It is thought that 15 members of the shadow cabinet spoke out against Mr Corbyn’s view.

Its leader Jeremy Corbyn has not disguised his pacifist stance, an opinion shared by the thousands of anti-war demonstrators who gathered in central London on Saturday.

McDonnell also insisted that people should not see Labour’s discussions about Syria as divisions but a healthy and democratic sign of the new politics that Corbyn has brought to the party.

However, one senior Labour source, who is not in Corbyn’s camp, said Labour MPs seemed to have become more wary of backing military action over the weekend for fear of “marking their card” and getting singled out as targets for possible deselection by activists.

The gulf between Labour’s anti-war clique and the rest of its MPs was highlighted yesterday when Ken Livingstone said that British troops were “discredited”.

Labour said the vote should not be held until next week at the earliest.

French President Francois Hollande said on Friday he hoped Britain’s lawmakers would back Cameron on the issue.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly said he will not seek the support of the House unless he is certain of winning as defeat would hand a propaganda victory to the extremists.

Asked if he was pleased that Labour MPs appeared to have been given a free vote, a Downing Street spokesman said: “Ultimately, it is up to all parliamentarians to come to a conclusion”.