Nia Griffith says Russia to blame for Salisbury spy poisoning, despite Corbyn reluctance
3 min read
Nia Griffith has said Labour agrees with Theresa May that Russia was behind the attempted murder of former double agent Sergei Skripal – just a day after Jeremy Corbyn refused to do so.
The Shadow Defence Secretary said "Russia is responsible" for administering the nerve agent which struck down Mr Skripal and his daughter Yuria in Salilsbury nearly a fortnight ago.
She said Labour also backed the Prime Minister's retaliation, including her decision to expel 23 Russian spies from London and go after the assets of oligarchs linked to Vladimir Putin.
Mrs May told MPs yesterday that "there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable" for Mr Skripal's poisoning.
But Mr Corbyn sparked anger among MPs, including on his own backbenches, when he pointedly refused to lay the blame with Moscow – although he did condemn the attack.
There was then further controversy when Mr Corbyn's spokesman, Seumas Milne, questioned the validity of the UK's own intelligence-gathering prior to the Iraq war, and suggested another former Soviet Union state may in fact be responsible.
But in an apparent split with her leader, Ms Griffith told Radio Four's Today programme: "This is a very sophisticated nerve agent and (we accept) that Russia is responsible for this attack and therefore we are fully supporting the measures the Government is talking, including the expulsion of the 23 diplomats."
Challenged on Mr Corbyn’s refusal to pin the blame on Vladimir Putin's regime, she insisted the Shadow Cabinet were in agreement on Russian culpability.
She added that the Labour leader made clear his position later in the afternoon, when in a statement he said: "The Russian authorities must be held to account on the basis of the evidence and our response must be both decisive and proportionate."
"Some of us perhaps speak in different ways and perhaps I speak in a more plain-speaking way," Ms Griffith added.
“[Mr Corbyn] has made it very clear in the subsequent statement that he’s put out that we are fully supportive of the Government’s actions because we accept what the Prime Minister has said and that Russia is responsible."
She also took aim at Mr Milne, who has also been criticised by many Labour MPs for his comments to journalists following the Prime Minister's statement.
"When we have the attempted murder of two people, plus a police officer very seriously ill and clearly other lives in danger we have very clear evidence and I think that is what we need to be talking about now," she said.
"We need to be looking at this particular situation and we do have some very, very fine intelligence services and great expertise on some of these matters.
She added: “I can’t speak for Seumas Milne, he clearly has to speak for himself…"
A Labour spokesperson said: "The Government has laid out two alternatives: that Russia is either directly responsible or culpable because it lost control of this nerve agent.
"Yesterday, we agreed that the evidence overwhelmingly points to those two alternatives. The Russian authorities must be held to account on the basis of the evidence and our response must be both decisive and proportionate."
CONSEQUENCES
In a further sign of Labour's frontbench splits on the issue, Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry also blamed Russia for the attack last night.
She said there was "prima facie evidence" that the Kremlin was behind it and that Moscow must "face the consequences" for its actions.
Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Smith has also endorsed an editorial in The Guardian which described Mr Corbyn's response to the Prime Minister yesterday as "dispiriting".
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