Jeremy Corbyn accused of 'siding with Russia' over Salisbury spy poisoning

The Labour leader has been accused of "siding with Russia"
PA
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A former foreign secretary today accused Jeremy Corbyn of being “on the same side, essentially, as the Russians” over the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind suggested the Government should not offer extra intelligence briefings to the Labour leader who seemed to him “rather doubtful” on such matters, adding: “He has already made up his mind, he is already saying he is on the same side essentially as the Russians on this matter.”

The former Conservative chairman of the Commons Security and Intelligence Committee added that the idea of Mr Corbyn as prime minister “makes me tremble”.

Labour Party insiders accused the Conservatives of trying to score “party political points” out of the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

The former Russian spy and his daughter were found unconscious in Salisbury on March 4. They had been poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, developed in Russia.

Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident

1/14

Mr Corbyn has criticised the Government for blaming Russia hastily. His backbench ally Chris Williamson gave an interview to Russia Today that accused ministers of exploiting the attack as a “smokescreen ... as a way of diverting attention from their difficulties over Brexit”. Both comments have been broadcast on Russian state TV.

At an overnight meeting of the United Nations Security Council, UK representative Karen Pierce said Russia was playing the “arsonist turned firefighter”. She jibed: “In this particular incident, the arsonist wishes to investigate his own fire.”

Russia’s ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzya warned Britain that it was “playing with fire” by blaming Moscow. He claimed another country must be responsible, and asserted: “Everything confirms this is a co-ordinated, very well-planned campaign … to discredit and even delegitimise Russia.”

Ms Pierce shot back that Russia had invented 24 theories for who did it, but the UK had only one — that Russia was responsible.

Mark Lyall Grant, Theresa May’s former national security adviser, told Newsnight that Russia looked “rattled” by the international response.

“This is a classic Russia pattern. When put under pressure, when put into a corner, they lash out,” he said.

Yulia Skripal, 33, said in a statement yesterday that her “strength is growing daily”. Her 66-year-old father remains in a critical condition.

It emerged today that Mr Skripal’s pet cat and two guinea pigs were dead. The guinea pigs were found dead at his home, an official spokesman confirmed. They reportedly died of thirst.

The former spy’s cat was found in a distressed state and taken to the Porton Down military laboratory for tests, where it was put down.

“A decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering,” said a spokeswoman. “This decision was taken in the best interests of the animal and its welfare."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in