Jeremy Corbyn has been coming under fire from the Conservative Party, and his own party, for his stance over Russia in the wake of the poisoning of Sergei Skripal.
The Labour leader said that, although Russia is probably culpable of the attack, he wanted proof and a calm response to the Russian state.
Responding to the backlash, he wrote in the Guardian that “to rush way ahead of the evidence being gathered by the police, in a fevered parliamentary atmosphere, serves neither justice nor our national security.”
He continued: “Labour is of course no supporter of the Putin regime, its conservative authoritarianism, abuse of human rights or political and economic corruption.
“However, that does not mean we should resign ourselves to a ‘new cold war’ of escalating arms spending, proxy conflicts across the globe and a McCarthyite intolerance of dissent.”
Over twenty Labour MPs have so far signed a motion, saying they “unequivocally accept the Russian state’s culpability.” This appears to go against the party leader, who wants to investigate the poisoning, before pointing fingers directly at the Russian state.
Yesterday, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has told Russia to “go away and shut up,” which was met with widespread hilarity on Twitter.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov insisted Russia was not involved and will expel British diplomats from the country. This move is in response to Britain sending 23 people back to Russia, who had been working in their embassy in London.
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/scene-at-the-russian-embassy-as-23-diplomats-are-expelled/15/03/
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/mueller-subpoenas-trump-organisation-for-documents-in-russia-investigation/16/03/