No going back on Corbyn’s ‘new politics’ – shadow chancellor

Jeremy Corbyn proved that he’s still a man of the people on Saturday, as he donned a Santa hat and went carol singing to raise money for Syrian refugees.

After surviving the Syria vote and holding Oldham in Thursday’s by-election, the Labour leader was reported to be considering how the party leadership could present a more unified front.

The website had hosted a piece by activist Matt Carr which attacked Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn for voting to back RAF bombing in Syria.

Corbyn faced calls from John Ross, an influential supporter with links to key members of his inner circle, to remove Benn.

Stephen Doughty, a member of the shadow foreign affairs team, said he was “disappointed” Mr Corbyn was planning to attend the event.

Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Tristram Hunt has criticised the Stop The War coalition for what he labelled “pretty ugly” online abuse of Labour MPs.

“In my estimation, Jeremy Corbyn’s mistake this week was not imposing the whip on the war vote and not inviting those who disagreed with him to resign from the shadow cabinet, as he could have done, and represented a party as a coherant political party”.

One of Jeremy Corbyn’s closest allies has called on Labour MPs to rally behind the “new politics” of the party leader amid speculation of a New Year purge of his shadow cabinet critics.

Stop the War rejected what it called an “unfounded attack”, while Mr Corbyn’s spokesman said the anti-war movement was a “vital democratic campaign”.

“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”, said Mr Hunt. Also their comments about Islamic State, their comments about how the French nearly had it coming to them.

Speaking on Radio 5 live’s Pienaar’s Politics, shadow energy secretary Lisa Nandy said people who bully, intimidate or harass MPs should be removed from the party and she welcomed the strong message from Mr Corbyn that this would not be tolerated.

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.

He added: “I think it is going to develop into a positive alternative for the country”.

But Mr Corbyn, who was chairman of the organisation until September, has made clear his intention to attend the £50-a-head fund-raiser.

Corbyn spoke out after Hunt called on him to pull out of a Christmas fundraising event organised by the “disreputable” Stop the War Coalition.

Mr Corbyn previously served as the organisation’s chair before becoming Labour leader.

Former frontbencher Tristram Hunt said that Stop the War is a “disreputable organisation”, adding: ‘I don’t think he should go there’. “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.

It came as the leader’s office dismissed reports of an imminent Shadow Cabinet reshuffle as “speculation”.