Corbyn challenged over weak spots on IRA, Nato and Trident

Labour leader denies backing republicans but says view on ‘Frankenstein’ Nato has not changed

JEREMY CORBYN was last night challenged over his ability to keep Britain safe if he becomes Prime Minister.

In an interview with the BBC’S Andrew Neil, the Labour leader was confronted over his record on Northern Ireland, Nato and Trident nuclear weapons.

Mr Corbyn denied supporting the IRA but again fell short of condemning the republican group. He also claimed he had “never met the IRA”, despite The

Daily Telegraph’s disclosure last weekend that he shared a platform with an IRA volunteer who was wanted over the killing of an SAS soldier.

He conceded that his view on Nato had not changed after Neil asked if he stood by his previous description of the group as a “very dangerous Frankenstein” that should be “wound up”.

Mr Corbyn refused six times to back his own party’s manifesto pledge to renew Trident. He also conceded that the role of nuclear weapons would be examined as part of a Strategic Defence Review if he became prime minister – raising the prospect that they could still be scrapped.

He came under pressure over his record on defence and security in the interview after it emerged that he once boasted about his long-standing efforts to block anti-terrorism laws in Britain.

The interview came after Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, said Mr Corbyn was wrong to link terror attacks in Britain to the country’s deployment of troops overseas in a speech given yesterday morning. Mr Corbyn also faced criticism from Theresa May and other ministers over his comments following the Manchester attack. He was challenged by Neil over his past association with convicted IRA terrorists, whom he invited to tea in the Commons. Neil asked: “Why would the British people want as their leader a man who for years supported the IRA?”

Mr Corbyn replied: “I didn’t support the IRA. I don’t support the IRA. What I want everywhere is a peace process. What I want everywhere is decency and human rights.” Pressed over whether he maintained his view that Nato was dangerous, Mr Corbyn said: “I want to work within Nato to promote a human rights democracy and under a Labour government that’s exactly what we’d be doing.”

Mr Corbyn, a long-standing opponent of nuclear weapons, also declined six times to say whether he backed the renewal of Trident – despite the pledge appearing in Labour’s manifesto.

“I voted against the renewal,” he said. “Everybody knows that because I wanted to go in a different direction. That is the decision that’s been taken; I respect that decision going ahead.” His admission that the nuclear weapons could form part of his defence review, prompted a hurried denial from his spokesman that renewal of Trident was “in question”.

Yesterday Mr Corbyn was criticised by Mr Burnham over a speech in which he pointed to “the connections between wars our government has supported or fought in other countries and terrorism here at home”.

In an interview with Talk Radio Mr Burnham warned that there was a “tendency to blame governments for everything, and I don’t think we should”.

In the speech Mr Corbyn denied that he was unpatriotic by linking terror attacks to the deployment of British troops overseas, in the week a suicide bomber killed 22 people, including young children, at Manchester Arena.

Last night Priti Patel, Secretary of State for International Development, said: “Corbyn didn’t answer a single question in that interview. The fact is he backed the IRA, doesn’t support Nato, wouldn’t renew Trident, wants to increase immigration and wants to massively increase taxes on working families.”

David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, told Radio 4: “What Jeremy is doing is giving credibility to after-the-event justifications for evil deeds. Not for the first time, Jeremy Corbyn has given succour to people who do evil deeds.”

On Monday Mr Corbyn and Mrs May will be grilled for 45 minutes each by Jeremy Paxman, the former Newsnight interviewer. Organisers Sky News and Channel 4 determined by a toss of a coin that Mr Corbyn will face questions first.