Labour shadow cabinet warned not to oppose Jeremy Corbyn over Syria

Cameron’s spokesman said he would seek a vote in the Commons when he “feels he has the consensus”.

The president’s comments will be seen as an appeal to Labour MPs wavering over action in Syria.

However, Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet ally Diane Abbott urged the shadow front bench to get behind their leader in any vote.

Mr Spellar condemned his party leader’s behaviour in an interview with Radio 5 Live. “I think the mood in Parliament has changed”, he said, predicting that the vote will pass since “a significant number of MPs” had changed their minds.

But Mr Corbyn then surprised his colleagues by sending MPs a letter saying he had already decided that he could not support the proposal to send the RAF into action in Syria.

Labour blogger Conor Pope, from the website Labour List, said on Twitter last night: “Surely expectation is that overwhelming response will be anti-intervention and can be used as leverage by Corbyn”.

Cameron told the House of Commons that US President Barack Obama and French President FranÁois Hollande had urged Britain to join the military campaign in Syria.

Deputy leader Tom Watson became the latest leading figure to speak out in support of bombing Islamic State (IS) in its Syrian heartland – putting him directly at odds with the party leader.

But yesterday both Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn and Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson said they had no intention of quitting despite both defying Mr Corbyn to support airstrikes.

After setting out his case, Cameron appeared to have persuaded at least two of 30 party “rebels” who voted against him in 2013, and his foreign minister, Philip Hammond, later said the government was now “building a consensus now for military action”.

It led to speculation that some members of the Shadow Cabinet could be forced to resign. This minister told the BBC’s Political Editor, Norman Smith, “There will be resignations among senior members of the shadow cabinet over this”.

“If anyone should resign after this incident, it should be Jeremy Corbyn”, he said.

Emergency crews and decontamination teams rushed to a major mosque in Brussels close to European Union HQ on Thursday after a suspect powder was found that the fire service said was feared to be anthrax.

Shadow Employment Secretary Emily Thornberry agreed with Corbyn that the prime minister failed to make the case for airstrikes in Syria, adding there was a “brutally honest debate going on” within the Labour Party.

Meanwhile, Mr Watson outlined his support for airstrikes saying: “I think there is an imminent terrorist threat being directed from Syria”.

Robin Walker has upped the ante ahead of a huge week for the Government by warning them he is prepared to vote against airstrikes unless he is absolutely sure it will improve the situation.