Jeremy Corbyn campaign group urges Labour MPs to reject air strikes in Syria

Momentum tells its followers to lobby Labour MPs to 'support Corbyn, not Cameron, over Syria' but shadow cabinet members voice concern

Momentum was set up by volunteers who helped Jeremy Corbyn get elected as leader (Getty Images)

The grassroots campaign group that was set up by Jeremy Corbyn supporters is urging Labour MPs to oppose the Government's plans to bomb Isis in Syria.

Momentum posted a Tweet telling its followers to lobby MPs "to support Corbyn, not Cameron, over Syria".

It posted a link to a page on the Stop the War Coalition website titled: "The Tories want war. Tell them: Don't bomb Syria".

It shows that Momentum and Stop the War Coalition are attempting to turn the vote on whether to bomb Syria into a party political issue by pitting it as a Tory v Labour issue.

It has angered Labour MPs, who took to Twitter to voice their disgust at Momentum's decision to campaign against bombing Syria before the party had decided its position on the issue.

Mr Corbyn has insisted he will not give his MPs a free vote when David Cameron brings a motion to the House of Commons, but with a significant number of his shadow cabinet in favour of taking action against Isis in Syria, the Labour leader is expected to back down and not enforce a three-line whip.

Ministers will have to rely on at least a dozen Labour MPs voting in favour of intervention in Syria due to an estimated 15 Tory MPs voting against the Government.

Gavin Shuker, Labour MP for Luton South, questioned what right Momentum had to lobby MPs against voting for air strikes in Syria:

And Shadow Culture Secretary Michael Dugher praised the Labour peer Lord Cashman after he condemned Momentum's tweet and said MPs "should follow their conscience... not threats".

The Prime Minister is expected to set out a "comprehensive" proposal for defeating Isis in the Commons on Thursday but will only call for a vote in the chamber once he is confident of winning approval.

He will deliver a detailed response to a report by the Foreign Affairs Committee, which set out grave reservations about expanding the RAF bombing campaign to Syria.

However the FAC chairman Crispin Blunt has since said that there could not be a "clearer necessity for using force" due to the recent terror attacks by Isis on Paris, Beirut and Mali.

Latest poll findings reveal that more than half the public now believe there are circumstances in which British ground forces should be sent to attack Isis; up to 70 Labour MPs could back the Prime Minister’s plan for air strikes in Syria, and party whips are convinced there are not enough MPs opposed to action to stop Mr Cameron ordering RAF planes across the border from Iraq into Syria.