Jeremy Corbyn is expected to seek the direct backing of grassroots Labour members and the party’s ruling body as he tries to persuade his MPs not to support David Cameron’s case for bombing Islamic State in Syria.

The Labour leader is facing a revolt from within his shadow cabinet over whether to back the government in a Commons vote next week, with most leaning in favour of military action, including Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary, and Tom Watson, the deputy party leader.

However, Corbyn is prepared for a fight with the MPs who are in favour of the current proposals for military action by attempting to show they are out of step with wider opinion in the party, especially at grassroots level.

He has already written directly to MPs, saying: “I do not believe the prime minister’s current proposal for airstrikes in Syria will protect our security and therefore cannot support it.” The Labour whips were ringing round MPs for their opinions on Friday night about this statement.

Corbyn is expected to go over the heads of MPs who disagree by seeking the backing of the national executive committee for his position and has begun canvassing members for support, sending them an email on Friday night that read: “I am writing to consult you on what you think Britain should do. Should parliament vote to authorise the bombing of Syria?”

On top of that, Momentum, the grassroots group of Corbyn backers, has signed up more than 7,500 people in the last 24 hours to lobby their MP to vote against military action. Thousands of people are also expected to take part in a Stop the War demo over the weekend.



Corbyn’s position was further cemented by his two biggest union backers, Unite and Unison. Len McCluskey, the Unite leader, said the case had not been made by Cameron and the government proposals were a “knee-jerk reaction”, while Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison, urged politicians “to take a step back and think twice about the implications of UK bombing raids over Syria”.

Amid signs that Labour MPs will be put under intense pressure to retreat from support of airstrikes, it is understood Downing Street will approach them individually offering briefings over the weekend to set out their thinking.

The French president, François Hollande, also made a direct appeal to British MPs to back the proposals, saying: “We want to destroy terrorism … I hope that the House of Commons will be able to meet the request of prime minister Cameron.”

His intervention appeared to be carefully choreographed with Downing Street at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Malta. A No 10 official was in the room and it came just a day after Cameron urged MPs to support his 36-page case for the UK to take part in airstrikes.

On the other side, Corbyn is seeking to bring MPs round to his position by the time of a shadow cabinet meeting on Monday, followed by a meeting of the parliamentary party, after they have time to reflect on their views and consult constituents over the weekend.



It is understood that if he does not win them round, it is possible Corbyn could allow a free vote but that decision has not yet been taken. It is not an option for the shadow cabinet to overrule him in favour of collectively supporting the proposal for military action because this would lead to them being sacked.

Labour sources said it was Watson, the deputy leader, who was trying to broker a deal for a free vote between Corbyn and the camp in favour of military action. Those who spoke up on Thursday in support of military action were Benn, Watson, Lucy Powell, the shadow education secretary, Michael Dugher, the shadow culture secretary, and Lord Falconer, the shadow lord chancellor, among others.

Those against Cameron’s plan include Jon Trickett, the shadow communities secretary, Diane Abbott, the shadow international development secretary, John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, Nia Griffith, the shadow Welsh secretary, and John Cryer, the chair of the parliamentary party.

Corbyn’s leadership publicly came under pressure on Thursday from two former Labour ministers, Fiona Mactaggart and John Spellar, who became the first to suggest he should think about quitting over his handling of the vote.

Asked about the possibility of a mass shadow cabinet walkout, Spellar, a former defence minister, said: “They should not resign. They should hold on to those places … If anyone should resign after this incident, it should be Jeremy Corbyn.”

There were reports last night that rebel Labour MPs have got legal advice saying they have a chance of keeping Corbyn off the ballot paper if there were to be a challenge to his leadership.

However, a senior Labour aide, who is not in Corbyn’s camp, said there were signs that the leader was “piling on pressure quite successfully” for MPs not to vote in favour of the action.

Wes Streeting, Labour MP for Ilford North, revealed the pressure that some Labour MPs were facing in a statement on his Facebook page. He said it was very likely he would vote against extending military action in Syria, after weighing the evidence, but claimed that “a number of Labour colleagues are experiencing tactics that can only be described as bullying and intimidating: hostile resolutions, abusive messages and threats of deselection”.

“This is no way to conduct debate on such an important issue – or indeed any issue,” he said.

There was also evidence on Friday night that Labour MPs were anxious for more reassurances from Cameron before they are willing to vote for his proposals. In particular, they want an explanation from Cameron about his claim that around 75,000 moderate rebel troops could be ready to secure the territory if Isis is defeated, and an explicit promise that there will be no boots on the ground.

Benn, who insists he will not resign over the matter, said he believed it was important the UK was “playing our full part” in military action to defeat Isis.

In clear contrast to Corbyn’s position, he told the BBC: “We have heard compelling arguments both because of the threat to the United Kingdom and also because we are right to have been taking the action that we have in Iraq to support the Iraqi government in trying to repel the invasion” from Isis.

But Labour sources also said he wants Cameron to “fix” the confusion about this figure and post-conflict plans.

Chris Bryant, the shadow leader of the Commons, who is a member of the shadow cabinet, also made clear Cameron needed to answer some outstanding questions that have been raised by Labour and Tory MPs alike after the government’s case was presented on Thursday.

“We don’t want to give Isis a free pass but we also don’t want to give Cameron carte blanche for this,” he said.

Two former leadership candidates, Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary, and Yvette Cooper are both understood to be undecided about how to vote.

Cooper wrote to the prime minister on Friday, saying she belived the government had made a “strong moral and legal case for the UK joining military airstrikes to defeat the totalitarianism of Isis” but practical questions remained about ground troops, a strategy to stop the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, being strengthened and how to safeguard those at risk of becoming refugees.



She also requested “direct briefings, including security briefings for privy counsellors, to be held as swiftly as possibly”, expressing concern that very few MPs have been given detailed briefings by the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence.

A number of shadow cabinet ministers are known to be seeking private briefings with security chiefs, which Downing Street has said it is happy to provide, although Corbyn’s office is meant to be the main conduit for such discussions.

The text of a possible motion has not been published but Cameron’s official spokesman said the prime minister had been clear that MPs would have to decide whether to back extension of airstrikes in Syria based on the case set out in his 36-page document on Thursday.

Downing Street is refusing to confirm a date for the vote but it is thought most likely to happen on Wednesday. No 10 sources stressed that they were still prepared not to hold one at all if it looks like the government does not have a clear majority for extension of military action. He is expected to have the backing of the vast majority of Conservative MPs but wants a decisive number of opposition MPs to back him as well, after the humiliation of losing a vote on airstrikes against the Syrian regime in 2013.