Labour fury as Foreign Office forced to delete claim nerve agent confirmed as Russian
4 min read
The Foreign Office has been forced to retract a claim that the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack last month was produced in Russia, in a major blow for Theresa May.
A tweet saying defence lab Porton Down had confirmed the origin of the poison which left ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia fighting for their lives was deleted.
It comes as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was mocked for claiming he was “personally” told by the forensics centre that the nerve agent came from Russia.
Gary Aitkenhead, head of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, yesterday said it was not the job of Porton Down to identify the “precise source” of the poison and it had therefore not done so.
The blunders have been seized upon by the Kremlin and are hugely embarrassing for the Prime Minister after she rallied global leaders for a diplomatic offensive against Moscow.
Last month a tweet from the official Foreign Office account said experts at Portion Down had “made clear this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia”.
But it was quietly wiped from the microblogging site, after the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory insisted it was “not, and has never been, our responsibility to confirm the sources of the agent”.
A Foreign Office spokesperson explained: "An HMA Moscow briefing on 22 March was tweeted in real time to explain what happened in Salisbury to as wide an audience as possible.
"One of the tweets was truncated and did not accurately report our Ambassador’s words. We have removed this tweet."
However at the briefing the British Ambassador to Russia Dr Laurie Bristow had said "the Novichok was produced in Russia".
Meanwhile, in an interview with a foreign news outlet last month, Mr Johnson said somebody from Porton Down was “categorical” that there was “no doubt” the deadly substance came from Russia.
But yesterday Mr Aitkenhead explained it was the job of the lab to identify the chemical makeup of the nerve agent but not to make a judgement about where it was manufactured.
He told Sky News it was a military grade weapon which could only have been developed and deployed by a “state actor”, and that the Government would have to piece the rest of the picture together with other intelligence.
Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott accused Mr Johnson of having “misled the public” with his claims.
“Those officials have made it clear they cannot identify its source, and are not able to definitively say it came from Russia or elsewhere.
“Boris Johnson is supposed to represent Britain on the world stage, but time and again he has shown he is unable to do so responsibly.”
In a withering tweet about the FCO retraction, she added: “Assume Foreign Secretary wishes his interview with same claims could also be deleted.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meanwhile said Mr Johnson had "egg on his face" and "questions to answer".
But a Foreign Office spokesperson said: “The Foreign Secretary was making clear that Porton Down were sure it was a Novichok – a point they have reinforced.
“He goes on in the same interview to make clear why based on that information, additional intelligence and the lack of alternative explanation from the Russians, we have reached the conclusion we have.
“What the Foreign Secretary said then, and what Porton Down have said recently, is fully consistent with what we have said throughout. It is Russia that is putting forward multiple versions of events and obfuscating the truth.”
RUSSIA 'NERVOUS'
Russian President Vladimir Putin has lashed out at the UK for putting an “anti-Russian campaign” into “full swing” despite the lack of concrete evidence against Moscow.
But in a statement to the Organisation of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons the UK government said Moscow was “nervous” about what the independent body will conclude.
The statement was made as the OPCW met in the Hague at the request of Russia.
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