Syria pressure on Corbyn from his MPs

One member of the shadow cabinet, speaking anonymously to the right-leaning Daily Telegraph, said radical leftist Corbyn was “no longer fit to run the Labour Party”, citing a “breakdown of trust”.

Breaking with a British political tradition of using a “party whip” to maintain parliamentary discipline, Corbyn’s finance spokesman said Labour was considering allowing its lawmakers to vote as they wish. “The problem is that my party… doesn’t have the hunger for power that the Conservative party has and the Conservative party is good at getting rid of leaders who they can see aren’t getting to lead the party to victory – my party isn’t”.

A number of MPs accuse the leader of treating them with “contempt” over his position on bombing Syria, which came without a debate concluding on Monday, and reports suggest half of the Shadow Cabinet could resign should he insist they try to block David Cameron’s motion on airstrikes on Islamic State.

In what is the latest attack since Jeremy Corbyn was overwhelmingly voted by party members to lead Britain’s Labour Party in September, some Labour parliamentarians are attacking his stance against proposed airstrikes in Syria, going as far as threatening to resign. He said he believed he had won over some wavering MPs and urged them to “vote on the basis of the arguments”.

Mr Hammond said ministers would give MPs the chance to reflect over the weekend on Mr Cameron’s case before deciding whether to press for a Commons vote. Cameron’s ruling Conservative Party, which maintains a comfortable majority in the House of Commons, is expected to back air operations in Syria.

Mr Watson said he agreed with Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn’s view that the prime minister had made a “compelling case” for military action and that the United Kingdom faced an “imminent security threat”.

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

Mr Livingstone, who is co-chairing Labour’s review of its defence policy, told BBC Question Time that the exprime minister’s decision to join the Iraq war had “killed 52 Londoners”. “You should follow your own judgement on what you think is best for the constituency and the country”.

Warley MP John Spellar described Mr Corbyn’s behaviour as “unacceptable”.

Asked if he would resign if there was not a free vote, Mr Watson said: “No, of course not”.

Thousands of protesters are set to gather outside Downing Street on Saturday (November 28) to oppose Prime Minister David Cameron’s plans to extend Britain’s bombing campaign from Iraq to Syria.

“There will be resignations among senior members of the shadow cabinet over this”, an unnamed senior shadow cabinet member told the BBC.