Thousands take to London streets in protest against UK Syria intervention

Corbyn has publicly opposed the option of British military action in Syria, and released a letter explaining his viewpoint.

And he made it clear he had the final say on a whip or a free vote. That gives him unique clout in the shadow cabinet, the NEC and on the Commons benches.

The move raises the prospect that the leader could pre-empt what had been billed as a crunch meeting of the shadow cabinet on Monday to decide whether Labour MPs will get a free vote.

The Parliamentary Party – a large proportion of which is believed to be considering supporting air strikes – will then hold what could be a highly fractious meeting this evening.

Len McCluskey, the general secretary of the Unite trade union has fired a warning shot at any MPs who may see this as an opportunity to dislodge Mr Corbyn. That is not open debate, it is abuse and should have no place in the party.

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”. “There are some issues, like going to war that should be above party politics and I think we are moving to a situation where, hopefully, in all parties on issues like this, a moral conscience should be above the whip as well”.

Al-Adnani is reportedly in charge of the terror group’s “international attacks” unit, which is believed to have orchestrated the Paris massacre and has repeatedly targeted the United Kingdom for a mass-casualty atrocity.

“We are very much opposed to David Cameron’s plan to have a vote in parliament to bomb Syria”, said Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition.

“We’d like to have a vote for military action but we’ve got to keep building the case”, Fallon told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.

Most Labour lawmakers did not support Corbyn’s leadership bid but he was backed by an overwhelming majority of grassroots party members.

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.

“I make the point that it’s a matter for the leader”.

Asked if a vote on action in Syria was certain to go ahead, Fallon said: “No. We are committed to building a consensus, seeing whether there is a majority there”.

“I fear we may be playing right into what they want – bombing more civilians and therefore helping them recruit more desperate young men with no other way in responding in their grief than by fighting back”. “The Iraq factor is massive – it’s front and centre” for Labour MPs deciding whether to support action in Syria, according to Victoria Honeyman, an expert on British foreign policy at Leeds University.

Shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer confirmed there were “significant differences” within the shadow cabinet, and he did not think it would be possible to reach a collective view.

Pressed on whether he personally was ready to resign, Lord Falconer said: “I don’t want to comment on that”.

Abbott, the worldwide shadow development secretary and Corbyn ally, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he should face down his internal critics. I think China would jump at the opportunity to be involved because it would bring them on to the global stage.