Syria air strikes: Corbyn to discuss views with shadow cabinet

It is my belief that the ISIS would be delighted to lure Britain in to the multi-sided civil war in Syria. The issues are too fundamental to let narrow internal advantage become the primary consideration.

For while the veteran left-winger is personally opposed to airstrikes in Syria, his parliamentary party is deeply divided.

‘Labour MPs need to listen to that voice, they need to try and understand where people are coming from on this.

In an echo of that protest, thousands gathered in the British capital carrying placards reading “Don’t bomb Syria”, “Drop Cameron, not bombs”, and “Don’t add fuel to the fire”.

The legality of the war, and the role of the United Nations, is a secondary issue in this debate.

“At this point, I do not believe that bombing Syria will make it safe, any more than bombing Iraq made Iraq safe, bombing Afghanistan made Afghanistan safe and bombing Libya made Libya safe”.

Right-wing Labour MP John Spellar called Mr Corbyn “the Fuhrer” and said an email to MPs setting out his objections to bombing amounted to a “coup” against the shadow cabinet.

In a sign that the argument is shifting opinion in the PLP, supporters of airstrikes may formally ask Downing Street to justify the 70,000 figure, including their ideological allegiances and willingness to fight Isis in Syria as opposed to Bashar al-Assad closer to Aleppo.

Len McCluskey, general secretary of the powerful Unite union, criticised some Labour MPs for exploiting the row over bombing Syria in a “sickening” effort to get rid of the leader. It gave legitimacy to the letters sent out by the Momentum group to put pressure on MPs.

In an analysis of almost 500 articles on the recently elected U.K. Labour Party head, the Media Reform Coalition found that the majority of the pieces printed were ” ‘negative, ‘ meaning they were openly hostile or expressed animosity or ridicule”.

Most Labour lawmakers did not support Corbyn’s leadership bid but he was backed by an overwhelming majority of grassroots party members. One said: “You never know with him”.

President Dr Omer El-Hamdoon said: “The last thing the British people need is another engagement which will cost billions of taxpayer’s money which the government continuously claims is unavailable for basic services, countless civilian lives claimed in Syria which will create new recruits for the likes of Daesh (Isis), British casualties and a new wave of violence and terrorism in an already dangerously volatile region”.

The Prime Minister is asking MPs to agree to joining that war with the commitment that British forces would “sustain our role in the campaign for as long as required to get the job done”.

The shadow cabinet is due to meet tomorrow to try to hammer out a collective position ahead of a potentially explosive gathering of the parliamentary party in the evening. Who these fighters are and how “moderate” they are remains unclear. At present they remain disorganised, leaderless and hardly intellectually refreshed. “What concerns us, however, are the ownership structures underlying this degree of political intervention”, the report said. But members of the Shadow Cabinet believe that it is written into the party’s standing orders that the power rests with the Shadow Cabinet, not the leader alone.

The Labour leader revealed over 70,000 members have responded to an unprecedented snap consultation over air strikes since Friday.