‘CRACK DOWN ON PUTIN’S CRONIES’

THERE were fresh calls last night for the Government to crack down on Putin’s cronies after the poisoning.

Tory MP Dr Julian Lewis, a former chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, said: “When Edward Heath expelled a very large number of Russians in 1971, it had a massive salutary effect on Soviet misbehaviour. The last thing we need to be showing in response to this attack is weakness.” Tory MEP Daniel Hannan said: “We need to be tough now, if Russia is shown to be behind what’s happened.”

Marina Litvinenko, whose husband Alexander, an ex-Russian Security Service officer died of poisoning in London in 2006, said: “When I received this news I was shocked. I realised nothing has changed.”