Jeremy Corbyn addressed the Parliamentary Labour Party this evening and it appears to have been a difficult meeting — depending on who you listen to. Those inside the room have said Corbyn was ‘shouted down’ by MPs for his stance on military action and Syria, while others say he was ‘savaged’ over his shoot to kill remarks.
After the meeting, Corbyn’s spokesman denied these meetings are getting worse and worse for the leader and said the majority of comments from MPs were not critical:
‘There is a small minority that is taking that view at successive PLP meetings but I think actually you’ll find when it comes to it, there is quite a strong consensus across the kind of position that was taken and agreed at the weekend by shadow cabinet ministers, on this subject and plenty of others. I think there is a tendency to exaggerate some of the differences. There is actually a large level of agreement in PLP and in the shadow cabinet’.
One particularly sticky topic was whether Corbyn will enforce a three-line whip on bombing Syria. While some Labour MPs appear to have been baffled at the lack of a clear answer from the leader, his spokesman said ‘there is an agreed and common position worked over the weekend which Jeremy Corbyn, Hilary Benn, Charlie Falconer, Maria Eagle are all signed up to’.
Although it is the spin doctors’ job to put a gloss on the leader’s position and add clarity when there is none, there was clear discontent among Labour MPs about how the party’s leadership is responding to the Paris terrorist attacks. But how exactly Labour MPs will express their displeasure beyond anonymous briefings remains to be seen
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