Shadow chancellor John McDonnell warned at the weekend that bullying had no part to play in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.

Addressing this year’s People’s Assembly Against Austerity’s national conference on Saturday, Mr McDonnell reminded all that “there’s no place for any of that” under Labour’s new “kinder politics.”

The Hayes and Harlington MP’s comments came after rightwingers shrieked about a supposed “New Year purge” of warmongers from the shadow cabinet.

“We call it a kinder politics, which holds at its heart a respect for dissent, so if people have a contrary view you respect their view but you also engage in the debate with them to convince them,” said Mr McDonnell.

“And that is the new politics we are trying to develop and install right across society now — how can enhance our democracy so it’s not just a mark on a ballot paper every five years.”

However, he added that the same understanding of disagreement had to come from the opposite side too, especially after an unnamed member of the shadow cabinet allegedly complained that the Syria vote should have been taken in secret.

“What we’ve seen over the last week is a large number of people lobbying their MPs and some people have interpreted some of that as intimidation and threats.

“I keep saying don’t mistake democracy for dissent. Don’t mistake debate with disagreement and certainly do not mistake lobbying for intimidation. That’s not what we are about.”

He defended the free vote as a “moral and a conscience issue” and said he wished other parties had followed Labour’s example.

“On that basis people might have judged the matter on the question of humanitarian principles rather than their own individual careers.”

Both Lisa Nandy MP and shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith, who both voted against British bombing of Syria, denied any suggestions of a possible Labour front bench reshuffle.

Mr Smith told the BBC Sunday Politics programme: “I think this is just newspaper tittle-tattle.

“What I’ve seen of the way Jeremy Corbyn has handled this in shadow cabinet is that he’s been very keen to stress respect for the different views.”