Labour leadership tries to stem damage from Corbyn’s Russia stance

The Labour leadership was scrambling today to limit the damage from Jeremy Corbyn’s refusal to condemn Russia.

Senior frontbenchers took to the airwaves to insist they ‘agree with the Prime Minister’ amid fears that Mr Corbyn has appeared to be an apologist for Vladimir Putin.

The veteran left-winger was heavily criticised by MPs from all parties last week after he pointedly failed to accept that Moscow was behind the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

Mr Corbyn’s spokesman inflamed the row further by arguing that the British security services might not be trustworthy enough to draw a conclusion on the involvement of Russia.  

But in an apparent attempt to shift the party’s position, Mr Corbyn’s cose allies John McDonnell and Baroness Chakrabarti stressed that Russia is culpable and endorsed the government’s reprisals against Moscow.  

In an apparent attempt to shift the party’s position, Mr Corbyn’s cose allies John McDonnell (left) and Baroness Chakrabarti (right) endorsed the government’s reprisals against Moscow

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured in the Commons last week) was heavily criticised by MPs from all parties after he pointedly failed to accept that Moscow was behind the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury

Mr McDonnell said the Salisbury incident is ‘highly likely’ to have been a state execution.

Appearing on ITV’s Peston on Sunday, Mr McDonnell said: ‘We support exactly what the Prime Minister said and we condemn Russia for this, condemn them. I believe this is a pattern of behaviour we have seen.’

The shadow chancellor said it was important to base judgements on the evidence but added: ‘There’s a pattern of people being murdered here, therefore it leads you to the conclusion that Putin has questions to answer because this is highly likely this could have been a state execution.’

Mr McDonnell added: ‘He is responsible whichever way you look at it, he is responsible and all the evidence points to him.’ 

Reacting to Labour divisions over Mr Corbyn’s response to the incident, Mr McDonnell said the Labour leader had given a ‘constructive critique’ and others ‘had misread that’.

Shadow attorney general Lady Chakrabarti told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘What I think is what Theresa May has said, which is that there’s a responsibility of the regime either in relation to having lost control of this chemical weaponry or even more serious and it’s a malevolent directed attack.

‘That’s the important distinction going forward.

‘You’re not going to get co-operation from a state that’s deliberately targeted you but you might get co-operation even from a slightly embarrassed state if its lost control of its stock of chemical weapons.’

On the BBC’s Andrew Marr show today, Boris Johnson said the UK had evidence that development of the nerve agent had continued over the past 10 years – despite Moscow’s claims to have destroyed it

Theresa May (pictured with husband Philip on the way to church in her Maidenhead constituency today) says the government is considering its next move in the diplomatic spa

Lady Chakrabarti said Labour’s position was that the incident was either a ‘loss of control’ or a ‘malevolent attack’ by the Russian state. 

‘We must condemn Russian responsibility, whether it is negligent or whether it is even more serious,’ she said. 

Asked if she trusted the conclusions of the British security services, Lady Chakrabarti said: ‘I do.’ 

She also called for ‘economic measures’ to target dirty money in the wake of the Salisbury poisoning

Lady Chakrabarti said Labour’s position was that the incident was either a ‘loss of control’ or a ‘malevolent attack’ by the Russian state

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