Labour MPS turn on Corbyn as he refuses to blame attack on Moscow

FURIOUS Labour MPS turned on their own leader in the Commons yesterday and accused him of being an “apologist for Russia” for suggesting Moscow may not be responsible for the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

Jeremy Corbyn and Seumas Milne, his spokesman, repeatedly declined to accept that Russia was behind the attempts on the lives of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, later calling British intelligence “problematic” and warning another state could be to blame.

Labour MPS last night called for Mr Milne’s resignation, while a shadow minister said his comments showed a “lack of understanding of the mood of Parliament and the British people”.

The remarks sparked outrage among Labour MPS as a group led by John Woodcock, chairman of the backbench defence committee, tabled a formal motion supporting the Prime Minister, in defiance of their leader.

Mr Milne, who once travelled to Russia on a trip paid for by the Kremlin, was criticised by the Prime Minister when he said the record of British intelligence services was “problematic” following the Iraq war.

A furious Theresa May told MPS it was “shocking” and “outrageous” to claim Russia may have been framed after the nerve agent fell into “random hands”, while Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, called the remarks “utterly deluded”.

The row broke out after Mrs May left MPS in no doubt about Russia’s responsibility for the attack, which left Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia in a critical state in hospital.

In the House of Commons Mr Corbyn appeared to repeat the demands made by the Russian Embassy on Twitter, asking Mrs May how she had responded to Russia’s request for samples of the nerve agent. And he drew cries of “disgrace” and “shame” as he spoke of cuts to Britain’s diplomatic service.

The Labour leader was forced to watch as his own MPS rounded on him, denouncing his failure to take a tough stand on Russian aggression.

Conservative MP Mark Francois branded him “an apologist for the Russian state”. Mr Milne, who speaks for Mr Corbyn, later told reporters that Labour believed there was insufficient evidence. Pressed further, he said the “overwhelming” evidence pointed to either the Russian state being responsible or of it losing control of the agent. “The break up of the Soviet state led to all sorts of military material ending up in random hands,” he said.