BOILING POINT

Tensions between London and Moscow erupt as Mrs May links Salisbury poisonings to crisis in Syria and Russia says Britain staged child gas atrocity

THERESA May was locked in a face- off with Vladimir Putin last night after linking the Salisbury poisonings to the Syria crisis.

Arguing for action against the Assad regime for deploying chlorine gas, she cited the nerve agent attack on the Skripals as evidence that the 100-year taboo on using chemical weapons was being eroded. And her officials released a dossier directly accusing Moscow of being behind last month’s attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

The Kremlin responded by warning against a repeat of Tony Blair’s ‘reckless military adventure’ in Iraq. The Russian military even claimed London had faked the gas attack near Damascus.

As the propaganda battle plunged

UK-Russia relations to new lows, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned: ‘The Cold War is back – with a vengeance.’

The Prime Minister is understood to be preparing to give the green light to military strikes against Bashar Assad’s forces within 8 hours. It is understood she will explain her decision to respond to a chemical attack in Douma to MPs on Monday but there will be no parliamentary vote.

Mrs May was apparently the most hawkish member of the Cabinet on taking action during an emergency meeting on the crisis on Thursday. In other developments:

It emerged that ministers had suggested a Commons vote might be needed;

Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn and Lib Dem leader Vince Cable were given a briefing on the situation in Syria at the Cabinet Office suggesting the strike could come as soon as tonight;

In a letter to Nato chiefs, the PM’s national security adviser laid out the British intelligence pointing to the Kremlin for the poisoning of the Skripals last month. Officials across government were last night in talks with their counterparts in France and the US to make the final preparations before ordering an assault. It is understood there was silence from Donald Trump and the US for operational reasons and to leave an ‘element of surprise’.

The PM is expected to have a telephone call with the US President and France’s Emmanuel Macron before a final order is given to strike.

Yesterday details emerged of a cabinet meeting the PM held on Thursday where she won the backing of her ministers to proceed without a parliamentary vote.

She told Cabinet: ‘Since 1918 we have worked to uphold the international norm that chemical weapons are abhorrent and never be used.

‘In recent years that international norm has been eroded and that should be a matter of deep concern to us all. The use of chemical weapons should not go unchallenged.’

The Prime Minister said Britain had to act in order to restore that norm, because the

weapons inflict real human misery. Downing Street sources said she made the point that these weapons had been used a number of times in Syria – and also in Salisbury.

The need to restore international norms was shared by the whole Cabinet, Downing Street sources said.

Whitehall insiders said: ‘Cabinet have been impressed that from the off she has been very robust and very clear. She was the most hawkish.’

Military planners are understood to have identified targets that have been linked to chemical weapons attacks. A source said: ‘Right now it is all down to the Americans. We are ready to go. It could be that nothing happens at all.’

Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, held a press conference at his residence accusing Britain of peddling myths about Russia’s activities.

At one point he compared allegations that the Syrian government had gassed its own people to Tony Blair’s claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

He also suggested the alleged use of chemical weapons was a hoax and may have been used to discredit Assad. The Russian embassy in the UK said: ‘Military strikes may be used to cover up all the evidence, or lack thereof, on the ground.’

Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the military had ‘proof that testifies to the direct participation of Britain in the organising of this provocation in eastern Ghouta’.

He said Britain had told the White Helmets, who act as first responders in rebelheld areas, to fake the suspected chemical attack. British intelligence sources said however it was ‘crystal clear’ the Syrian regime was behind the attack and ‘nobody serious’ in the international community had any doubts about this.

Mr Guterres told the UN the Middle East was in such chaos it had become a threat to international peace and security.

One former Russian general yesterday warned that Moscow could hit Britain’s base in Cyprus if the RAF or Britain’s other forces attacked Assad’s bases.