From The Guardian

John McDonnell and Diane Abbott pull out of Stop the War rally

"Labour backbenchers including John McDonnell and Diane Abbott have pulled out of attending a Stop the War rally in London on Wednesday amid pressure from Keir Starmer over the group’s stance on Ukraine.

The Labour leader told his party’s MPs on Monday there was “no place” in the party for anyone drawing a “false equivalence” between the actions of Nato and those of Moscow.

Labour sources had suggested that if backbenchers made any comments at the Wednesday evening rally that were critical of Nato or sought to blame the western alliance for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it could lead to the whip being withdrawn.

McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, subsequently released a statement saying he would not attend the event at Conway Hall in London despite being listed as a speaker.

“People are dying on the streets of Ukrainian cities. This is not the time to be distracted by political arguments here,” he told the website LabourList. “Nothing is more important at this time. Nothing should distract us from that. So I won’t feed into that distraction by going tonight.”

Abbott, the former shadow home secretary, told the Guardian she would not be attending either.

During the event, a man waving a Ukrainian flag interrupted the end of Jeremy Corbyn’s speech. The man was then forcibly removed from Conway Hall."