Jeremy Corbyn faces the biggest test of his leadership so far as the shadow cabinet prepares to meet to hear whether he will demand they vote against military action against Islamic State in Syria.
The Labour leader, who is opposed to extending airstrikes on Isis from Iraq, is considering whether his MPs should be whipped to oppose military action. A three-line Labour whip against the airstrikes would increase the chance of David Cameron calling off his plans for a vote in the House of Commons, as he wants a clear majority in favour.
However, this approach could lead to the resignation of many of Corbyn’s senior colleagues, who are in favour of the government’s proposals for bombing Isis. Those minded to back military action include the shadow foreign secretary, Hilary Benn, the deputy leader, Tom Watson, the shadow lord chancellor, Charles Falconer, and the shadow education secretary, Lucy Powell.
Ahead of the crucial meeting of the shadow cabinet at Monday lunchtime, Diane Abbott, the shadow international development secretary, said party members would be disappointed if discipline was not enforced.
“What I’m saying is that party members and increasingly the country want to see us oppose these airstrikes, which are not the solution, with every sinew of our being. And that would mean a three-line whip,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“It’s not whether I would be disappointed. It’s what the party and the country would think. I think this is about the country, this is more than about individuals, this is more than about matters of party management. The country and certainly Labour party supporters are looking to the party to oppose these airstrikes because they don’t think it’s the answer.”
Corbyn has already canvassed more than 70,000 party members for their views on the airstrikes in the hope of persuading MPs in favour of action that they are out of step with the grassroots. It is understood sampling of the returns shows about 70% are against airstrikes.
Momentum, the grassroots group of Corbyn supporters, has separately been urging people to lobby their MPs against supporting airstrikes, and about 40,000 people have contacted their MP through Stop the War, the campaign group formerly chaired by the Labour leader.
On Sunday night, the Labour leader wrote to members of the national executive committee asking for their views about airstrikes, in the hope that they will also back his position.
The email says: “As you know, I have written to our members as well as the PLP [parliamentary Labour party] and a meeting with the shadow cabinet will take place tomorrow. As a member of the party’s governing body, it is also important to hear your views.
“I would be grateful therefore if you could reply to this email at your earliest convenience regarding your thoughts on how the party should proceed and whether we should support the government proposal to commence airstrikes in Syria.”
The Labour leader asserted his authority over the party on Sunday, reminding MPs of his large mandate and making clear that he alone would decide whether to whip them to vote against extending airstrikes on Isis.
Some shadow cabinet ministers believe they can overrule Corbyn and use the shadow cabinet meeting to force him to hold a free vote. But Corbyn retains the option of simply sacking those who try to defy him and replacing them with colleagues who share his view.
After the shadow cabinet meeting, there will be a gathering of the parliamentary Labour party at 6pm in Westminster, where the mood of the party about the government’s airstrike proposals is likely to become clear.
One senior Labour source, who is not in Corbyn’s camp, said Labour MPs seemed to be becoming more wary of backing military action over the weekend for fear of “marking their card” and getting singled out as targets for possible deselection by activists.
On Sunday night, discussions were continuing about whether Corbyn would allow MPs to vote with their conscience, but there is a possibility of compromise on how a free vote is carried out or the level of whipping imposed. Negotiations involve who would be allowed to speak from the frontbench in the debates.
On Monday morning, there were signs that a solution to the impasse was nearing. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, played down the prospect of resignations, telling Sky News: “I think we will arrive at a common position and people will hold together.”
A compromise deal could, for example, involve a whipped vote but with a suspension of collective responsibility, which would allow shadow cabinet members to vote with their consciences with having to resign.
Cameron is likely to hold a vote on extending the bombing of Isis to Syria on Wednesday. He has the vast majority of Conservative MPs behind him, but the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, and the defence secretary, Michael Fallon, have been phoning Labour MPs urging them to swing behind the government position.
After a tumultuous week in the party, Corbyn warned any plotters that he was “not going anywhere”.
At least three Labour backbenchers – John Spellar, Fiona Mactaggart and Simon Danczuk – have suggested it would be better for Corbyn to step down and some senior party figures have taken legal advice about whether they could exclude him from future ballot papers.
In an acknowledgement there may be Labour figures trying to plot a coup against him, Corbyn told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “I feel there are some people who haven’t quite got used to the idea the party is in a different place.”
Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, went even further than Corbyn in accusing some within the party of using the issue of Syria as “the thin edge to stage a coup against Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s (overwhelmingly) elected leader”.
Writing in the Huffington Post, he said: “Backbench MPs are even calling on him to quit for having the temerity to maintain his values and principles ... the thought that some Labour MPs might be prepared to play intra-party politics over an issue such as this will sicken all decent people. And they are playing with fire. Any attempt to force Labour’s leader out through a Westminster Palace coup will be resisted all the way by Unite and, I believe, most party members and affiliated unions.
“I do not know whether there will be a free vote on Syria or not. However, that is a decision for Jeremy to make. But we cannot have a free-for-all party. If those Westminster bubble-dwellers who hanker back to the politics of the past cannot show the elected leader – and those who voted for him – more respect, then they are writing their own political obituaries.”
Amid signs Labour MPs are increasingly nervous about backing airstrikes in defiance of the leadership, Watson has asked for further clarification from Downing Street on the government’s claims that about 70,000 moderate Syrian rebels are being prepared to fight Isis on the ground.
The deputy leader has been trying to broker a deal with Corbyn to allow a free vote, as it is possible that key shadow cabinet ministers would have to resign if the leader insists they vote against airstrikes. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, is in favour of a free vote across all parties as a matter of conscience.
McDonnell said people should not see Labour’s discussions about Syria as divisions but a healthy and democratic sign of the new politics that Corbyn has brought to the party.
Many Labour MPs have now made clear their positions either for or against military action, making the idea of a whipped vote increasingly difficult.
Lord Falconer became another senior member of the shadow cabinet to confirm he was minded to support the government’s proposals. On the BBC’s Sunday Politics, he refused to comment on whether he would step down if the shadow cabinet was forced to take a collective position against military action but said he hoped there would be no need for resignations.
Chuka Umunna, the former shadow business secretary who withdrew from the leadership campaign early in the contest, said he would vote with his conscience regardless of what the leadership decided and revealed that he was considering voting in favour of the government’s plans.
