UK’s Labour Party says most members against air strikes in Syria

Labour MPs and shadow cabinet ministers said the email exposed Mr Corbyn’s “ideological opposition” to intervention and proved it was not based on any real concerns about the Prime Minister’s strategy to defeat Isis.

“You can’t just write these people off as psychopaths and sociopaths”, the Bridge Of Spies star said.

“There shouldn’t be any party discipline on issues like this. You should follow your own judgment on what you think is best for the constituency and the country”.

The leader warned MPs must listen to the “voice” of the party membership, who overwhelmingly elected him, after delivering an impassioned critique of David Cameron’s case for attacking Islamic State (IS) in its heartlands.

A parliamentary vote on bombing Syria is expected as early as this week, and many formerly reluctant politicians are thought to have changed their minds after the Paris attacks earlier this month.

French President Francois Hollande also used a press conference at the summit in Malta on Friday to appeal to his fellow socialists in the U.K. Labour Party to back Cameron’s plan.

The decision came after members of Corbyn’s inner circle had threated to break ranks and vote with Cameron. But some members of his top team have said they believe that extending the bombing is right.

The Unite general secretary accused Labour MPs of a “sickening” effort to get rid of Mr Corbyn by exploiting the row over Syria.

He said: “In the last couple of weeks we have seen a steady but small stream of people leave the party, pushed out by Corbyn”.

“We are not commenting on speculation”.

He said: “I’m going to find out what MPs think”.

“The problem about a free vote is that it hands victory to Cameron over these airstrikes, it hands victory to him on a plate”.

Labour leaders are set to meet on Monday, where they are set to decide whether it will be a free vote.

Cameron is seeking authorization to expand ongoing Royal Air Force bombing raids against Islamic State positions in Iraq into Syria, where the militant group has a stronghold in the city of Raqqa. The demonstration was organised by the Stop The War Coalition protest movement.

The backdrop to this debate is the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria – but there is also the continuing question of how Mr Corbyn’s can lead the party if he cannot command the support of MPs.

Mr Galloway told the crowd: “We broke Iraq into a hundred pieces, a million are dead, and fanatic extremism is cascading all over the world”.

One demonstrator, 65-year-old John Offen, said he and others were anxious about a “lack of planning” in the proposed military action. “We’ve destabilised all these countries”.

Actor Mark Rylance, former Respect MP George Galloway and musician Brian Eno were among those to address the demonstrators who waved placards and chanted; “Don’t bomb Syria” in Whitehall, central London.

“I don’t think the case has been made because I don’t think the bombing of Syria will make any difference to the position of Isil/Daesh”. “We’ve tried this way before”.

Asked whether the government had got the votes needed to get parliamentary approval for the air strikes, Fallon said: “Not yet, we are working at it and we need to keep working at it because there are lots of questions about this”.