Corbyn refusal to pin blame on Moscow triggers Tory anger at ‘weasel’ words
Johnson accuses Labour leader of ignoring the evidence indicating Russian state involvement
JEREMY CORBYN was yesterday accused of using “weaselly language” after he failed fully to condemn the Russian state for the Salisbury nerve agent attack.
Boris Johnson attacked the Labour leader for refusing to blame the Russian government for the incident, just minutes after Theresa May revealed the Kremlin’s military intelligence arm, the GRU, was responsible.
Two of its agents are being hunted by British security services after CCTV footage tracked them to Salisbury, where the attack took place, and then leaving the country shortly afterwards.
Ministers are not seeking an extradition order for the pair because Russia refuses to grant such requests, but officials are working with the EU to increase sanctions and have issued a European Arrest Warrant for the men if they seek to return.
But the Labour leader was heavily criticised for appearing to hold back in his statement to MPS in the House of Commons yesterday, after previously openly questioning Russia’s role in the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
Mr Corbyn also called for samples of the Novichok agent to be sent to President Putin for confirmation that it came from his country – despite the Kremlin’s refusal to engage on the issue.
The Labour leader previously asked for Novichok to be sent earlier this year amid a Russian propaganda war in which the Prime Minister herself was accused of developing the nerve agent. Critics at the time accused Mr Corbyn of deliberately turning a blind eye to the Russian state’s hostile actions.
Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Corbyn said the Russian government must “give a full account of how this nerve agent came to be used in the UK”. He added: “We utterly condemn the attacks. We commend the police and security services for their diligence in investigating this appalling crime, and we will support any reasonable action to bring those responsible to justice and to take further action against Russia for its failure to cooperate with this investigation.”
But the Labour leader failed to directly condemn the Russian government for its involvement and his spokesman later defended Mr Corbyn’s decision not to lay blame before it had been directly proven.
Mr Corbyn came under fire earlier this year for demanding “incontrovertible proof ” of Russian responsibility before condemning the state for the attack. Mr Corbyn has previously been very supportive of Moscow and the Putin
‘I only wish such a clear condemnation would be possible from the leaders of all parties in the House’
regime and earlier this year said he would still “do business” with Putin despite the nerve agent attack which left a British woman dead and affected a number of others.
Addressing MPS yesterday, Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, said: “The whole House will have noted what I am afraid was the somewhat weaselly language of the Leader of the Opposition in failing to condemn what is now incontrovertible in the eyes of all right-thinking people — the involvement of the Russian state at the highest level in the poisonings.”
Amber Rudd, the former home secretary, also accused Mr Corbyn of failing to address the issue properly.
The Prime Minister later signalled her agreement in response to the SNP MP Ian Blackford, stating: “I thank him for his clear condemnation of the Russian state. I only wish that such a clear condemnation might be possible from the leaders of all parties in the House.”
Speaking yesterday, Mr Corbyn vowed to support “reasonable and effective actions” against Russia in response to the news that the attack was likely to have been sanctioned by a senior member of the Russian government.
But, in a briefing to journalists, Mr Corbyn’s spokesman warned against “symbolic acts” of retaliation and claimed there had been a history of such actions in earlier diplomatic incidents.
He also repeated calls for samples of the nerve agent to be sent to Russia for examination. The spokesman said: “That should be done through the OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons). The OPCW is the vehicle through which that would be most effectively done. And the Russian government should cooperate with that.”
Questions were also raised about Mr Corbyn’s trip to Salisbury, of which officials had not been made aware.
Addressing MPS, Mr Corbyn spoke of the “eerie” atmosphere in the town while police attempted to piece together what happened.
He said: “Six months after the attack, Salisbury and its people are still suffering the after-effects, as I found when I visited the city earlier this summer.
“An eerie calm hung over the city on that summer’s evening. A large part of it is cordoned off for security purposes, so that the police can continue their investigations, creating a very strange and eerie atmosphere.”
But a spokesman for John Glen, the MP for Salisbury, confirmed he had not been made aware of the visit. Parliamentary protocol states that MPS must inform each other if they intend to travel to their constituencies.
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn rejected suggestions that the new developments showed that his initial response to the March attack was flawed.
The spokesman said that Mr Corbyn had always taken a “proportionate, evidence-based approach to what took place, which is the right approach”.
He indicated that Labour would like to see action on the abuse of the London financial system by Russian oligarchs linked to the Putin regime.