Former Labour minister says Corbyn’s position on Russia ‘as staggering as it is tragic’
2 min read
A former Labour minister has hit out at Jeremy Corbyn’s response to the Salisbury nerve attack, claiming his position is “as staggering as it is tragic”.
Mr Corbyn has drawn criticism for his response to the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal, which he has said could have been the work of “mafia-like groups”, rather than the Russian state.
Labour have also questioned Tory donations from wealthy Russians such as Lyubov Chernukhin, who paid £160,000 to play tennis with Boris Johnson and David Cameron.
Theresa May has explicitly blamed the Russian government for the attack, while Mr Johnson said evidence showed the Kremlin had been stockpiling deadly nerve agents over the last decade.
In the foreword to a new essay, former security minister Lord West accused Mr Corbyn of abandoning Labour’s historic commitment to Western defence.
“By leading the way in the creation of Nato, Clement Attlee’s Labour Government sought to create a system of collective defence that was built to last over the long-term,” he wrote.
“This difference with today is as staggering as it is tragic.
“Those now leading the Labour party have consistently criticised Nato and yet recent Russian behaviour sees a growing number of challenges to international law and deliberate attempts to threaten and undermine those within the Nato alliance.”
However the peer said he was heartened by the fierce response from Labour MPs, many of whom have made clear their differences with the leadership on security issues.
“The present scale of discomfort over the strategic position of the leadership, evident from many Labour backbenchers, is a source of hope to me," he explained.
"I look around and still see many who follow in the proud tradition of Attlee, Bevin, Healey and Robertson.”
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