UK air strikes: Labour members warned against bullying as splits over Syria deepen

Ken Livingstone stoked anger among MPs by publicly endorsing attempts to deselect MPs who backed air strikes

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaking during the debate in the House of Commons on extending the bombing campaign against Islamic State to Syria (PA)

All Labour members are to be sent emails warning them against bullying and harassing MPs, as the party’s split over air strikes in Syria deepened.

The party leadership has faced renewed calls to take action against what Labour MP Wes Streeting called “a well organised, systematic and well-resourced attempt to bully Labour MPs into voting against air strikes”.

As Stella Creasy became the first MP to face a direct threat of de-selection in her Walthamstow constituency, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who was recently appointed by the party leadership to co-chair a major defence policy review, stoked anger among MPs by publicly endorsing such attempts against those who backed air strikes in Syria.

Labour MP Ann Coffey meanwhile said that emails branding her a “warmonger” and saying she would have “blood on her hands” had been received from addresses that had previously sent a standardised text used by the Momentum group, the successor of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign group.

A spokesperson for Momentum said it “strongly disapproves of anyone who engages in abusive behaviour towards MPs or anyone else, and threatening or bullying, whether they are outside the Labour Party (as most are) or inside it.”

“We specifically asked our supporters to emulate Jeremy Corbyn, and to keep their messages about the issues and to refrain from any personal attacks,” the spokesperson said.

Mr Streeting, who voted against air strikes, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Jeremy Corbyn risked “permitting” abuse.

"Given how much of this is being facilitated by Momentum, the organisation set up in wake of Jeremy's leadership campaign, I don't believe Jeremy Corbyn as an individual somehow encourages the bullying of Labour MPs, but I think at the moment he is danger of permitting it by not showing strong enough leadership, by not clamping down on this," he said.

Mr Corbyn has spoken out against abuse and bullying. The email to party members follows a message posted on Facebook in which the leader said “there is no place in the Labour Party or from those that support us - for bullying of any sort.”

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell meanwhile said “there should be no threats of de-selection”. However, Mr Livingstone, in an interview with LBC Radio, said he would support de-selection of an MP who had voted for air strikes “as long as there were a good load of other issues”.

“Kind and gentle is fine, but people have got a right to have a candidate they agree with,” he said, referring to Mr Corbyn’s call for a “kinder politics”.

The numerous reports of abuse and threats to MPs has led Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham to call for a new code of conduct to deal with any abusive behaviour, particularly on social media, which should apply to the party and linked groups such as Momentum.

“It needs to be a clear standard set of rules about what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour when the party debates things internally,” he told The Independent. “No one side is to blame. But there are things that are beyond the pale in how members of the party speak to one another. There is no place for foul language, bullying or intimidation.”

Disciplinary measures against party members shown to be responsible for abuse would be a matter for the party’s National Executive Committee, but Mr Corbyn has faced calls to take a firmer stance by recommending such action.

Ms Coffey told The Independent: “He’s the leader of the Labour party. There’s a responsibility that comes with that to make sure the party behaves in a way that reflects the values of the party.

“Jeremy Corbyn has a clear mandate to lead the party. But he can’t operate in a way that puts the party against the MPs and says it is the MPs that are the problem. Part of the role of leader is to make it work, to accommodate, to negotiate and manage differences within the whole party.”