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| Corbyn defies calls to shun Stop the War dinner | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has addressed a fundraising dinner for the Stop the War coalition, despite calls from some of his MPs not to attend. | |
| Mr Corbyn said the group was a "vital force" and "one of the most important democratic campaigns of modern times", which had brought "hundreds of thousands of people" to protests. | |
| Campaigner Andrew Murray is replacing Mr Corbyn as Stop the War chairman. | Campaigner Andrew Murray is replacing Mr Corbyn as Stop the War chairman. |
| He described the Labour leader as part of the campaign's backbone. | He described the Labour leader as part of the campaign's backbone. |
| Mr Murray, a trade unionist and journalist who previously chaired Stop the War for 10 years, said the quarter of a million people who had voted for Mr Corbyn to lead Labour "did so because of his stand against war, not in spite of it". | Mr Murray, a trade unionist and journalist who previously chaired Stop the War for 10 years, said the quarter of a million people who had voted for Mr Corbyn to lead Labour "did so because of his stand against war, not in spite of it". |
| He said: "This unity between a mass campaigning movement and the leadership of the Labour Party clearly makes some uncomfortable. | He said: "This unity between a mass campaigning movement and the leadership of the Labour Party clearly makes some uncomfortable. |
| "Their new year's resolution needs to be to get used to it." | "Their new year's resolution needs to be to get used to it." |
| Controversial blog | Controversial blog |
| Mr Corbyn, who has been a leading member of the Stop the War coalition since it was founded, used his speech to praise its campaigns against military interventions. | |
| "It has been shown to be right in opposing more than a decade of disastrous wars - in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya - while many of its most vociferous critics supported them," he said. | |
| Senior Labour figures, including MPs Caroline Flint and Tristram Hunt, had urged Mr Corbyn to shun Friday's event over a controversial blog Stop the War posted after the Paris attacks. | |
| Green MP Caroline Lucas has also resigned as a patron of Stop the War, citing concerns about the positions it has adopted. | Green MP Caroline Lucas has also resigned as a patron of Stop the War, citing concerns about the positions it has adopted. |
| A tweet and article published in the wake of the attacks on Paris last month suggested France had "reaped the whirlwind" of Western support for extremist violence in the Middle East. | A tweet and article published in the wake of the attacks on Paris last month suggested France had "reaped the whirlwind" of Western support for extremist violence in the Middle East. |
| Both were later removed and disowned by the organisation's leaders, but critics have highlighted another article last week which argued jihadists were driven by a "spirit of internationalism and solidarity" akin to the International Brigades that fought in the Spanish Civil War. | |
| Shadow culture secretary Michael Dugher said the Labour leader should use Friday's dinner to "have a word" with the organisers. | Shadow culture secretary Michael Dugher said the Labour leader should use Friday's dinner to "have a word" with the organisers. |
| In an interview with The House magazine, Mr Dugher said many Stop the War activists thought "the wrong people won the Cold War" and that the dinner was a chance to deliver a message. |