[2] It opposed sending military aid to Ukraine during the Russian invasion, stating that it risks starting a war between NATO and Russia, a position which drew criticism from Andrew Fisher.

The Coalition was launched at a public meeting of 2,000 people at Friends House on Euston Road in London,[6] on 21 September which was chaired by Lindsey German, then active in the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).

Representatives of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee) and the Alliance for Workers' Liberty[8] failed to get elected, although both became members of the Coalition and participated in its activities.

This makes for some very strange bedfellows, who include retired generals, old peaceniks, former ambassadors, anti-globalisation protesters, Labour activists, trade unions, [and] the Muslim community".

Andrew Murray was its first chair from 2001, and its vice-presidents have included Kamal Majid (who, according to Independent columnist Andy McSmith, helped found the Stalin Society) and George Galloway.

Speakers at the rally in Hyde Park included Tony Benn, Jesse Jackson, Charles Kennedy, Ken Livingstone, Mo Mowlam and Harold Pinter.

"[26] An Early Day Motion was proposed by Labour MPs including Harry Barnes condemning their position and asking the group to "reassure the public that they have not lost their moral bearings.

Speakers from across the world included Cindy Sheehan, the American mother whose son died in Iraq; and Hassan Juma, president of the Iraqi Southern Oil Workers Union.

"[43] In March 2009, at a StWC meeting John Rees said he was a "supporter" of Hezbollah and Hamas, saying that such “resistance” groups are “a legitimate part of [our] movement”, likening them to French and Italian partisans fighting the Nazis in World War II.

[51] The leadership of the Stop the War Coalition had said that the Benghazi rebellion, as part of the Arab Spring, was a "popular rising" and Gaddafi the head of a "brutal dictatorship."

[54][55][56] Samir Dathi wrote for the Stop the War website in June 2013: "Whilst many of us want nothing more than to see the ruthless dictator Assad go, we cannot support the further militarisation of the conflict, which will only perpetuate the horrific violence and refugee crisis in the region.

[61][62] StWC vice-president Kamal Majid said in a speech at a conference organised by the New Communist Party in 2012 that the Assad family has "a long history of resisting imperialism", and should be supported "because their defeat will pave the way for a pro-Western and pro-US regime".

[66] According to Amr Salahi, writing for the Left Foot Forward website, no Syrian was among the speakers at the event, but the former Guardian foreign correspondent Jonathan Steele said that he would have happily shared the platform with Mother Agnes.

[71][72] According to commentator Mehdi Hasan, the article blamed the rise of ISIL and the Paris attacks on “deliberate policies and actions undertaken by the United States and its allies”.

"[75] Jon Lansman, of the Corbynite Momentum pressure group, commented later about the material concerning the Paris attacks: "I think even Stop the War themselves have accepted they were stupid for publishing those articles.

[78] Following the Paris attacks and the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2249, the UK parliament voted on air strikes against ISIL in Syria.

[80][81][82] George Galloway dismissed the significance of the threats[80] and Lindsey German defended the rights of protesters on the StW website: she wrote that she was "against bullying and intimidation.

[75] Caroline Lucas cited her concerns that Syrians had not been allowed to speak at an StWC parliamentary meeting by its chair, Diane Abbott, as one of the reasons for her resignation.

[85][87][77] These concerns were shared by the human rights activist Peter Tatchell, who told The Independent that Stop the War's "opposition to US imperialism... sometimes mean[s] they will ignore the horrendous crimes of despotic anti-American regimes like Russia and Iran.

[88] Attendance at the Stop the War event on 11 December cost £50 a head and included entertainment by musician Dmitri van Zwanenberg and comedian Francesca Martinez.

[96] In his speech at the event, at a Turkish restaurant in Southwark, south London, Corbyn said the "anti-war movement has been a vital force at the heart of our democracy" and "I think we've been right on what we've done".

According to Jewish News, "One appeared to sympathise with jihadists", while another, by Richard Falk, was titled "Time to go to war with Israel as the only path to peace in the Middle East".

In October 2016, during the Russian-backed Syrian government siege of Aleppo, protesters heckled Corbyn at a StWC conference, where he was due to give a speech, for his failure to call for regime change in Syria.

According to Tatchell: The Stop the War Coalition (STWC) is in moral meltdown and in the throes of a rebellion by many of its longtime supporters – including me – over its one-sided Syria protests and its persistent failure to listen to appeals from democratic, anti-war and civil society activists inside Syria...The coalition won't even campaign for airdrops of food and medical supplies to besieged civilians...

No wonder the movement is increasingly discredited.Tatchell added: Symptomatic of the rot at the heart of Stop the War Coalition is former chair Andrew Murray's article published in the Morning Star in October.

A leading official in the anti-war movement, Murray blasted the West but didn't even mention Russia's mass killing of women and children in Syria.

[110][111]One of Corbyn's speeches at a Stop The War event, dating from 2011, featured in a Conservative Party attack ad in June 2017, with an extract used to portray him as soft on terrorism.

[120] It was condemned by Labour Party leader Keir Starmer who wrote in an opinion article for The Guardian:"[T]he likes of the Stop the War coalition are not benign voices for peace.

[126] Jeremy Corbyn supported StW in an opinion article for Jacobin:Keir Starmer claims that the Stop the War Coalition is a Russian stooge.

[127]Andrew Fisher, Labour's director of policy under Corbyn, dissented and argued that the campaign was out of step with the majority of the trade union movement which supported Ukraine's right to resist the invasion.