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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Russia says it will expel British diplomats from Moscow 'soon' in retaliation against UK – Politics live

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin holding a meeting of his security council at the Kremlin to discuss Russia’s response to the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats from London.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin holding a meeting of his security council at the Kremlin to discuss Russia’s response to the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats from London. Photograph: TASS / Barcroft Images

Afternoon summary

  • Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has chaired a meeting of his security council in Moscow to discuss how to retaliate against the UK’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats from London. Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, said Russia would act soon. (See 12.02pm.) According to the Russian news agency Tass, Putin will personally chose the retaliatory measures Moscow takes against the UK. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:

A final decision [on retaliatory measures] will, of course, be made by the Russian president. There is no doubt that he will choose the variant that best of all corresponds to the interests of the Russian Federation.

Peskov also said that Russia is “perplexed and does not comprehend the British leadership’s stance” and insisted the “accusations are unsubstantiated”.

  • Jeremy Corbyn has said the “evidence points to Russia”, but declined to say that he believes the Russian state was directly responsible for the nerve agent attack in Salisbury. (See 2.52pm.) His words put him at odds with some members of his shadow cabinet who have said they think the Russian government ordered the attack. (See 10.52am.)
  • Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, has confirmed the government is not calling for a World Cup boycott following the Salisbury attack. (See 8.50am.)
  • The BMJ, a respected medical journal, is calling for an investigation into why death rates are apparently increasing. In an editorial it says:

Within the first seven weeks of 2018, some 93 990 people died in England and Wales. Over the same weeks in the previous five years, an average of 83 615 people died. This rise of 12.4%, or 10 375 additional deaths, was not due to the ageing of the population. Ageing is a slow process and leads to slow, not sudden, rises in mortality. An additional person died every seven minutes during the first 49 days of 2018 compared with what had been usual in the previous five years. Why?

The weather was unusually mild during the initial weeks of this year—very cold weather did not arrive until late February. The mean temperature was 4.1°C across the UK in January 2018, almost half a degree above the average for this time of year.

Nevertheless, the first seven weeks of 2018 were unusual in terms of the operation of the NHS. On 2 January, after “an unprecedented step by NHS officials,” thousands of non-urgent operations were cancelled, a clear sign of a system struggling to cope. Many hospitals were already at or beyond their safe working levels, “with high numbers of frail patients stuck on wards for want of social care,”and a rise in influenza cases had begun.

The proportion of deaths in the first seven weeks of 2018 caused by respiratory disease was 18.7%. This includes all deaths for which influenza or pneumonia was identified as the underlying cause and compares with 18.3% for the same period in 2017, 15.8% in 2016, 19.5% in 2015, 14.9% in 2014, and 17.9% in 2013. In short, mortality due to the large group of causes that include influenza was not unusually high. Whatever the key reasons are, they do not include an unusual influenza epidemic.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

US senate intelligence committee says Russia behind nerve agent attack in Salisbury

The US senate’s intelligence committee has joined those saying Russia was to blame for the nerve agent attack in Salisbury. Its chairman, the Republican senator Richard Burr, and Mark Warner, the vice chairman and most senior Democrat on the committee, put out this joint statement.

We stand with our British allies and the rest of the civilised world in denouncing the brazen and brutal chemical attack carried out against the United Kingdom. It has become clear that Russia is behind this effort to kill innocent civilians with a banned nerve agent. This reckless and hostile act violates every international and diplomatic norm. The Kremlin may deny it and spread misinformation through its propaganda machine, but we know the truth. We must come together as a global community and stand against Russia and the malicious actions of the Putin regime.

The Russian foreign ministry has published on its website an English language account of what was said at its press briefing today. Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman, accused the UK of using the UN to stir up “anti-Russia hysteria”, said Russia would announce retaliatory measures soon, complained that the UK was refusing to provide factual information about the nerve agent used in the attack and said Russia was seeking access to Yulia Skripal, who is a Russian citizen.

The government has defended asking businesses to sign secrecy agreements in private discussions about the UK’s future border arrangements with the EU, which reportedly include laying out scenarios for a no-deal Brexit, my colleague Jessica Elgot reports.

May says Salisbury is 'open for business'

During her visit to Salisbury Theresa May welcomed the fact France, Germany and the US have joined the UK in signing a joint statement (see 1.08pm) saying there was “no plausible alternative explanation” other than Russia being responsible for the nerve agent attack. She said:

What is important in the international arena, and we have taken this into Nato, into the United Nations, we’ll take it through into the European Union, is that allies are standing alongside us and saying this is part of a pattern of activity that we have seen from Russia in their interference, their disruption that they have perpetrated across a number of countries in Europe. This happened in the UK but it could have happened anywhere and we take a united stance against it.

Asked if she could guarantee the public were safe, she said:

Well, Public Health England have been giving public health advice to people here in Salisbury, as has the chief medical officer and their advice is clearly that the risk to public health is low.

She also stressed that Salisbury was “open for business”.

What I’ve heard from the people here in Salisbury today, what I’ve heard from businesses here in Salisbury today, is that they do want to see support, which they will be given both by the council but also by the government, to ensure that the city can recover, that we see tourists coming back to this city in the numbers we’ve seen previously.

Salisbury is open for business, it’s business as usual here. It’s a great city, it’s a wonderful place to come visit - historic, beautiful, Salisbury is open.

Theresa May meeting members of the public in Salisbury after visiting the scene where former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found after they were poisoned with a nerve agent.
Theresa May meeting members of the public in Salisbury after visiting the scene where former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found after they were poisoned with a nerve agent. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

President Trump told reporters at the White House today that it “looks like” Russia was behind the Salisbury attack. He said:

It certainly looks like the Russians were behind it, something that should never ever happen. We are taking it very seriously as, I think, are many others.

President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House today with the Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar.
President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House today with the Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA

The US has accused Russia of a cyber-assault on its energy grid, and has stepped up sanctions on Russian intelligence for its inference in the 2016 elections, my colleague Julian Borger reports.

Corbyn says evidence 'points to Russia' but won't say it directly ordered nerve agent attack

Jeremy Corbyn has sought to dismiss claims that he did not condemn the Salisbury nerve agent attack properly in the Commons yesterday. In a broadcast clip shown on Sky News, he said that he was “extremely definite” in what he said. He seemed to be trying to quash claims that he is at odds with his party on this issue, although in fact his interview confirmed that this is the case.

Commenting on what he said yesterday, Corbyn told the interviewer.

I was extremely definite yesterday that I totally condemned this attack, the perpetrators must be brought to justice, the international chemical weapons convention must be invoked and the source of this weapon, which appears to be Russia - either from the state or rogue elements of the state - must be brought to justice as a result.

But it was then put to him that his view was not the same as his shadow defence secretary, Nia Griffith’s. Griffith said this morning: “Russia is responsible for this attack.” (See 10.35am.) Asked if that was what he was saying, Corbyn replied slightly tetchily:

The evidence points towards Russia. Therefore responsibility must be borne by those that made the weapon, those that brought the weapon into the country and those that used the weapon. What I was asking was questions, questions about the identity of the weapon, questions about the reference to the weapons convention and also the support of other allies in this. Those were the questions I was asking. That’s what oppositions are there for.

On Monday Theresa May floated the idea that the Russian nerve agent used could have come from a supply stolen from the government - and, hence, some rogue element might have been responsible - but yesterday May said that that theory had been discounted because of Russia’s response. So Russia must have ordered the attack, she told MPs. Griffith and some other members of the shadow cabinet also accept this conclusion. (See 10.35am.)

When Corbyn says the “evidence points towards Russia”, he is making a general point about culpability - because even if it did not order the attack, it was at fault for letting someone get hold of the nerve agent. But Corbyn is not saying he accepts that Russia directed the attack.

Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn Photograph: Sky News

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has just tweeted a picture of the security council meeting he chaired today to discuss the Salisbury attack and its repercussions.

Opposition MPs mock Gavin Williamson for telling Russia to 'go away and shut up'

Here is the clip of Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, saying earlier that Russia should “go away and shut up”. (See 12.55pm.)

Williamson used to be chief whip. “Go away and shut up” might be the sort of language appropriate for dealing with a truculent backbencher, but opposition MPs (and a lot of other people, judging by Twitter) think that is is not the way to conduct public diplomacy with an autocrat armed with nuclear missiles.

Here are some comments from MPs.

From Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary

From Labour’s Chuka Umunna

From the former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron

Rayner isn’t the first politician to compare Williamson to a character from Dad’s Army, but she has upgraded him to Captain Mainwaring. According to a Mail on Sunday story from last December, some of his Tory critics have compared him to Private Pike.

Updated

Earlier I said the UK, Germany and France had issued a joint statement saying they accepted Russia was responsible for the Salisbury attack. I’ve updated the post now (see 1.08pm) to include America, which also backed the statement. It was left out earlier by mistake. Sorry for that.

Steve Rosenberg, the BBC’s Moscow correspondent, has posted a clip of RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan (RT was formerly Russia Today) saying that, if RT is banned from the UK, British journalists would be expelled from Russia.

Skripal may have been attacked by enemies of Russia hoping to spoil World Cup, says Lavrov

According to Reuters and the Associated Press, the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said today that Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, could have been poisoned by enemies of Russia hoping to spoil the World Cup tournament.

Lavrov also claimed the UK government was using the “provocation with Skripal” to distract attention from how badly the Brexit talks were going.

Putin chairs security council meeting to discuss tensions with UK

According to the Associated Press, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of his security council to discuss tensions with Britain over the Salisbury poisoning. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies, that the participants in the meeting “expressed a great concern about the destructive and provocative position taken by the British side.” The meeting involved top Russian Cabinet members, parliamentary leaders and intelligence chiefs.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (centre) and Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (left) during a meeting of the Russian security council in the Kremlin.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (centre) and Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (left) during a meeting of the Russian security council in the Kremlin. Photograph: Mikhail Klimentyev/TASS

Theresa May talks with Wiltshire Police’s chief constable Kier Pritchard as she is shown the police tent covering the bench in Salisbury where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were discovered on March 4
Theresa May talks with Wiltshire Police’s chief constable Kier Pritchard as she is shown the police tent covering the bench in Salisbury where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were discovered on March 4 Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

Merkel and Macron use joint statement with May to say they now fully accept Russia to blame for spy attack

Theresa May, the German chancellor Angela Merkel, the French president Emmanuel Macron and the American president Donald Trump have issued a joint statement condemning Russia for its role in the Salisbury attack.

From the UK’s point of view, it does not go beyond what May said in her statement to MPs yesterday. But Downing Street will be pleased that France (compared with what a government spokesman was saying yesterday) and Germany (compared with what the foreign minister said yesterday) have both firmed up their anti-Russia stance. They are now saying there is “no plausible alternative explanation” other than Russia being responsible for the attack.

On Monday the White House refused to say that Russia was to blame for the attack, but on Tuesday President Trump revised his stance and said he thought Russia was responsible.

Here is the statement in full.

We, the leaders of France, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, abhor the attack that took place against Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, UK, on 4 March 2018. A British police officer who was also exposed in the attack remains seriously ill, and the lives of many innocent British citizens have been threatened. We express our sympathies to them all, and our admiration for the UK police and emergency services for their courageous response.

This use of a military-grade nerve agent, of a type developed by Russia, constitutes the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the second world war. It is an assault on UK sovereignty and any such use by a state party is a clear violation of the chemical weapons convention and a breach of international law. It threatens the security of us all.

The United Kingdom briefed thoroughly its allies that it was highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attack. We share the UK assessment that there is no plausible alternative explanation, and note that Russia’s failure to address the legitimate request by the UK government further underlines its responsibility. We call on Russia to address all questions related to the attack in Salisbury. Russia should in particular provide full and complete disclosure of the Novichok programme to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Our concerns are also heightened against the background of a pattern of earlier irresponsible Russian behaviour. We call on Russia to live up to its responsibilities as a member of the UN security council to uphold international peace and security.

French President Emmanuel Macron (left), German Chancellor Angela Merkel (centre) and Theresa May at an EU summit last year.
French President Emmanuel Macron (left), German Chancellor Angela Merkel (centre) and Theresa May at an EU summit last year.

 Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

UPDATE: I’ve corrected the post above to include President Trump, who also put his name to the statement. I left his name out originally by mistake.

Updated

Gavin Williamson's Q&A - Summary

Here are the main points from Gavin Williamson’s Q&A earlier. He was speaking after giving a speech in Bristol. Here are the key points.

  • Williamson, the defence secretary, said he would like Russia to “go away and shut up”. He was speaking in response to a question about what the UK would do if Russia retaliates for the measures announced yesterday, including the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats from London. He said:

What we will do is look at how Russia responds to what we have done. This is absolutely atrocious and outrageous what Russia did in Salisbury. We have responded to that. Frankly, Russia should go away and shut up. But if they do respond to the action we have taken, we will consider it carefully and we will look at our options. But it would be wrong to pre-judge their response.

Deborah Haynes, the Times’s defence editor, doesn’t seem impressed by his turn of phrase.

And the FT’s Jim Pickard is making a similar point.

  • Williamson said that the government should not rush into taking action against Russia. Asked about possible further measures, he said they should be “thoughtful” and “calibrated”. He went on:

I don’t think what we should be doing is rushing to do too much too rapidly. We’ve got to make sure that everything we do is incredibly considered, and has a real impact and effect on those people at the very top of the Russian regime that have decided to cause this nation harm.

  • He sidestepped a question about whether the UK would invoke Nato’s article 4 after the Salisbury attack. Article 4, which is rarely used, allows any Nato country to convene a meeting of Nato members when it feels its security is threatened. Julian Barnes, a Wall Street Journal security correspondent, thinks some Nato members would welcome that happening in this case.
  • He admitted that he would like to get his hands on some of the aid budget. Asked about this, he said he recognised that aid spending played an important role in projecting British soft power. But he went on:

I have to admit, I do have great ideas of how I could spend an extra £13bn or £14bn. I think all secretaries of state for defence have amazing imaginations when it comes to spending money. But that is why we always have chancellors in order to frustrate them.

Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary.
Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Theresa May is in Salisbury now. She has just recorded a clip for broadcasters saying she is the city to thank the emergency services for their work in response to the poisoning attack and to reassure people.

Theresa May in Salisbury
Theresa May in Salisbury Photograph: BBC

One of Ukip’s peers invited Tommy Robinson, the founder of the anti-Islam English Defence League (EDL) street group, into parliament, the Lords has been told, prompting condemnation.

Malcolm Pearson, who entered the Lords as a Conservative before switching to Ukip, was criticised by the Tory peer Baroness Warsi for his actions.

During a Lords debate on combating hate speech, Warsi asked if Pearson “could explain whether he thinks it is appropriate for members of this house to be hosting the likes of Tommy Robinson within the precincts of this house at a time when there is an increased risk in relation to hate crime, and members of the other house have been receiving hate letters”.

Lady Williams, whose junior Home Office brief includes countering extremism, said she “couldn’t agree more” with Warsi. She said:

As legislators for this country we have got a strong leadership role to take, and it does dismay me when I see that certain quite extreme people are being invited into the palace of Westminster to propagate some of their hate.

Robinson has remained a vehement anti-Islam campaigner after the EDL disbanded. In a controversial appearance last year on ITV’s Good Morning Britain he called the Qur’an a “violent and cursed book”.

Pearson, who spoke after Williams, did not comment on Robinson, but asked a question about hate speech and religion. In a debate on the child grooming scandal earlier in the week, Pearson requested that minister ask Muslim leaders whether sexual abuse “is sanctioned in the Qur’an”.

Nerve agent used in spy attack could have been produced in UK, Russia claims

The Russian embassy in London is suggesting the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack could have been produced in the UK. It has floated the idea in a tweet.

An MEP from Ireland’s main governing party has invited Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson for a pint at the Irish border.

Fine Gael’s leader in the European Parliament, Sean Kelly, said today he will buy Johnson a beer if he takes up the challenge to tour the border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, and see for himself the potential damage Brexit will do to the island. Kelly said:

It’s only when you see it that you realise any change to it could be extremely detrimental. So it would be a good idea for particularly Boris Johnson to come to look at it before he opens his mouth regarding the simplicity of having a border the same as you’d have between one borough and another in London.

I suppose a good solution would be - Boris come over to Ireland, let us sit down and talk, let’s see the border and we’ll buy you a drink at the end of it.

Russia says it will expel British diplomats from Moscow 'soon' in retaliation against UK

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, has said Russia will retaliate against the UK by expelling some British diplomats from Moscow “soon”, the Associated Press news agency reports. It says:

Sergei Lavrov has warned that Moscow will soon respond in kind to Britain’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats over the poisoning of a former Russian spy.

Lavrov, speaking in remarks carried by RIA Novosti news agency, said that Russia will “certainly” expel British diplomats. He said that the move would come “soon,” but added Moscow would inform London via official channels before publicly announcing its countermeasures.

According to Reuters, Lavrov also said that he hoped Sergei Skripal, the former double agent poisoned in the attack, would recover so that he could shed some light on what happened.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister Photograph: Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

Grenfell Tower fire door only held back fire for half as long as expected, MPs told

Sajid Javid, the housing and communities secretary, has just told MPs in a statement that a fire door at Grenfell Tower only held back fire for half the time it was supposed to. In a press notice his department said:

An issue has been identified with a fire door installed at Grenfell Tower and, following independent expert advice, the government is undertaking further investigations to establish the full circumstances.

Initial inspections indicate the door is believed to have been designed to resist fire for up to 30 minutes – as required by building regulations guidance. When tested by the Metropolitan Police, however, it failed after approximately 15 minutes.

Independent experts have advised that the risks to public safety remain low, and that evidence from investigations to date does not change this assessment.

The department said the investigation has focused on on doors produced by a single manufacturer that is no longer trading. It said it did not think that this was indicative of a wider problem, but that a further investigation of fire door safety would take place.

Javid said:

Public safety is paramount. Government has consulted a range of independent experts and they have advised that the risks to public safety remain low. I have made it clear that the necessary tests and assessments must be carried out thoroughly, but at pace.

Theresa May to visit Salisbury

Theresa May will be visiting Salisbury later today, Downing Street has said.

Q: Do you want to get your hands on the foreign aid budget?

Williamson says foreign aid plays an important role in projecting soft power. But he has to admit that he can think of ways he could spend that £13bn or £14bn on defence.

But all ministers are like that, he says. He says that is why the government has a chancellor.

Williamson says if, two weeks ago, he had predicted an attack like the Russian one, he would have been accused of scaremongering.

We can see what Russia is doing, he says. It is invading countries.

He says the UK is a country that cares about the world. We have to be ready for those threats, he says.

Williamson says relations with Russia are not good. Some people say it might not be a cold war, but it is chilly, he says. He says he thinks it is colder than that.

Q: Russia has been mocking us in the wake of Theresa May’s announcement, with tweets like its temperature one. What do you make of them? And are you thinking of invoking Nato’s article 4?

Williamson says the UK government’s response should be calibrated. It should work with international partners. But it should not be rushed.

Gavin Williamson's Q&A

Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, is now taking questions after his speech.

Q: Russia has said it will expel British diplomats from Moscow. Will the UK retaliate?

Williamson says the government will look at what Russia does. Frankly, Russia should “go away and shut up”. But the government will consider what it does. It would be wrong to prejudge it.

  • Williamson says Russia should “go away and shut up”.

Q: What do you think of Corbyn’s response?

Williamson says it could be described as “somewhat disappointing”.

He says the nation wants to see MPs stand together.

Gavin Williamson accuses Russia of 'ripping up international rule book'

Defence secretary Gavin Williamson accused Russia of “ripping up the international rule book” through a series of actions aimed at subverting countries around the world, including attacks such as the one in Salisbury.

Williamson said Russia followed up such actions by using social media to muddy the waters.

The defence secretary, one of the punchiest, populist speakers in the cabinet, used his first keynote speech since taking the post to warn of a growing threat posed by Russia and to use this to make the case for increased UK defence spending.

He said Russia, at a time when its economy is under pressure, is still prioritising military expenditure, investing in long-range surface to air missiles, T-90 tanks, advanced submarines, long-range ballistic missiles , a new range of strategic bombers and new nuclear systems. He said:

What is also clear is that the Kremlin is ripping up the international rule book, using its growing hybrid capabilities to subvert, undermine, and influence countries around the world.

Its cyber operations are active and brazen. It uses social media to muddy the waters and spread confusion Last year Russia’s military intelligence organisation directed the NotPetya ransomware activity, overwhelming systems in Ukraine from its power grid to its postal service and and causing hundreds of millions of pounds of damage to companies around the world including here in the UK.

Williamson, who was speaking at Rolls-Royce in Bristol, added: “But Russia is capable of much more It is already increasingly using proxies to undermine sovereign states Its involvement in the Ukraine conflict has cost thousands of lives.” In Syria, he said, there is a humanitarian crisis in which Russia is using private military companies to reduce their liability.

Meanwhile, Russia is also using its operatives insidiously to interfere in the political processes of other nations. Security authorities have compelling evidence to show Russia was involved in the attempted 2016 coup in Montenegro, just prior to that country’s accession to NATO.

And, if we doubted the threat Russia poses to our citizens, we only have to look at the shocking example of their reckless attack in Salisbury.

Williamson, who used the speech to announce funding for a new chemical defence centre at the Porton Down military facility and that thousands of UK troops will be offered the anthrax vaccine to help them deploy faster in the event of a chemical attack, said the UK had a proud military history and continued to be active across the world, including” policing Eastern European skies against a resurgent danger from Russia”.

He added: “Our soldiers stand sentinel with our NATO Allies in Estonia and Poland to deter this threat.”

Updated

Here is the text of the French government’s read-out of Theresa May’s call with the French president, Emmanuel Macron. And here is an excerpt.

Since the beginning of the week, the United Kingdom has kept France closely informed of the evidence gathered by British investigators, as well as the elements showing Russia’s responsibility in the attack. France shares the UK’s conclusion that there is no other plausible explanation, and reiterates its solidarity with its ally.

The French embassy in London has been in overdrive this morning tweeting support for the UK over the nerve agent attack. It seems keen to repair any damage caused by the French government briefing yesterday about how said Paris wanted evidence that the facts were “completely true” before taking a view on Russia’s guilt.

Here are some of the tweets.

Updated

Germany says spy attack 'must have consequences' and it takes UK assessment of Russian guilt 'very seriously'

And the German government is taking the British government’s assessment of Russia’s involvement in the nerve agent attack “very seriously”, it says. The embassy in London has tweeted this, a quote from a speech given yesterday by the new German foreign minister, Heiko Maas. Maas says the attack “must have consequences”.

France now accepts Russia was to blame for nerve agent attack, No 10 says

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, now backs the UK government’s assessment that Russia was to blame for the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, Downing Street said. Yesterday a French government spokesman said Paris wanted “definitive conclusions” and evidence that the facts were “completely true” before taking a view on Russia’s guilt.

But Theresa May has spoken to Macron by phone this morning and the Number 10 read-out of the conversation suggests she has convinced him. A Downing Street spokesman said:

President Macron said that France completely shares the UK’s assessment that there is no plausible explanation other than that Russia was responsible for the attack and he once again expressed his full support for the UK as a close and strong ally.

The prime minister and the president reiterated their condemnation of the use of all chemical weapons and said they would continue to cooperate closely in this area.

The prime minister thanked the president for his ongoing support, including at Nato, the United Nations security council and in the OPCW [Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons], and they agreed to remain in close contact as the situation developed and in the run up to the March European council meeting where this would be discussed.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, with Theresa May at the Anglo-French summit at Sandhurst in January.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, with Theresa May at the Anglo-French summit at Sandhurst in January. Photograph: IAN LANGSDON / POOL/EPA

Updated

Shadow cabinet minsters distance themselves from Corbyn by directly blaming Russia for nerve agent attack

Nia Griffith, the shadow defence secretary, used an interview on the Today programme this morning to insist that Labour does now believe that Russia “is responsible” for the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

She claimed that there was no rift between what she was saying and what the Labour leader thinks, but at least three shadow cabinet ministers have now publicly distanced themselves from the line Corbyn took when he was speaking in the Commons yesterday.

In the Commons Corbyn condemned the use of nerve agents and criticised the “abuse of human rights by the Putin government” in general terms, but did not blame the Russian state for what happened in Salisbury. The full text of his response is on the Hansard website here.

A few minutes later, in a briefing for lobby journalists, Corbyn’s spokesman said that the government’s claims were based on intelligence assessments and that there was a history of intelligence briefings being wrong. He also said that Theresa May herself said on Monday that, although the nerve agent used in the attack was produced by the Russian state, it was not necessarily under their control and could have been obtained by a rogue third-party. The spokesman referred to “mafia-type groups”, implying they could have been responsible.

On the Today programme this morning Griffith set out what she said was Labour’s position. She said:

We very much accept what the prime minister said, this is a very sophisticated nerve agent, and that Russia is responsible for this attack. And therefore we are fully supporting the measures which the government is taking, including the expulsion of the 23 diplomats.

Asked why Corbyn had not said that in the Commons himself, she said:

Well, some of us perhaps speak in different ways, and perhaps I speak in a more plain-speaking way, but he has made it very clear in the subsequent statement that he has put [this Facebook post] out that we are fully supportive of the government’s actions ...

That is our position now and I can assure you that very strongly is our frontbench position.

Asked about the briefing by Corbyn’s spokesman, Griffith said that she was not there. But she dismissed the suggestion that there was any similarity between what happened in Salisbury and the Iraq WMD experience. This situation was “very different”, he said.

Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, and Owen Smith, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, have also taken a firmer line than Corbyn over Russia’s involvement. In a lecture last night Thornberry said:

You do not have to be a lawyer, like so many in this room, to know that when there is prima facie evidence against a suspect, then that suspect has a case to answer.

In this case, the Russian government has been given every opportunity to provide any credible, alternative explanation as to how its nerve agents came to be used in this attack but they have not even tried to do so, and they must therefore face the consequences.

And Smith posted a tweet this morning saying a Guardian editorial on the issue was “absolutely right”. The leader says that Corbyn’s comments in the Commons yesterday were “dispiriting” and that “Corbyn’s reluctance to share Mrs May’s basic analysis of the Salisbury incident made him look eager to exonerate a hostile power.”

In his Facebook post issued after his Commons statement, Corbyn says Russia must be “held to account” for what happened. This goes marginally further than what Corbyn said in the Commons. On Facebook he says:

The prime minister said on Monday and again today that Russia was either directly responsible or it was culpable because it lost control of this nerve agent.

The Russian authorities must be held to account on the basis of the evidence and our response must be both decisive and proportionate.

But Corbyn does not take a view as to whether Russia should be held to account because it was directly responsible (the first option floated by May on Monday), or because it was culpable because it lost control of its nerve agent stocks (the second option).

In her statement on Wednesday May said that Russia’s dismissive response to the suggestion it might have lost control of nerve agent stocks meant the UK government had concluded that it was directly responsible for the attempted murder. Griffith, Thornberry and Smith all seem to agree. But, if Corbyn does, he hasn’t said so yet.

Nia Griffith
Nia Griffith Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA Archive/PA Images

Updated

Boris Johnson's morning interviews - What he said on Russia

Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, has given at least four broadcast interviews this morning. Here are the main points he has made on Russia.

He also covered various other topics, which I will summarise in a separate post shortly.

  • Johnson claimed that the decision to expel 23 diplomats would disrupt Russia’s spying efforts in the UK “for decades to come”. What Theresa May announced yesterday went “far beyond what Vladimir Putin had bargained for”, he claimed.

We have basically eviscerated his intelligence capabilities in this country for decades to come.

  • He said that Russia was responding with “smug sarcasm” to the accusations made against because it wanted people to know that it was responsible and it wanted to frighten potential defectors. He said:

I’m afraid the evidence is overwhelming that it is Russia. And there is something in the kind of smug, sarcastic response that we’ve heard from the Russians that to me betokens and indicates their fundamental guilt.

They want simultaneously to deny it and yet at the same time to glory in it. The reason they’ve chosen this nerve agent is to show that it’s Russia, and to show people in their agencies who might think of defecting or of supporting another way of life, of believing in an alternative set of values, that Russia will take revenge.

That is fundamentally what this is all about. At a time when Russia is going in the wrong direction, becoming more repressive, when Vladimir Putin’s regime becomes more corrupt, it’s more important than ever for him that he jams down the lid on potential dissent, on potential defectors.

This is a way of saying to people ‘Look at what happens to people who stand up to our regime’.

  • He said he was 99.8% confident that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent attack.
  • He confirmed that the government was not backing calls for a boycott of the World Cup in Russia as retaliation for the attack.
  • He said that the UK would be sending a sample of the nerve agent used in the attack to the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for it to carry out its own tests. But he signalled that the government would not be sending a sample to Moscow, as the Russians have requested. There was no requirement to do so under the chemical weapons treaty, he said, and he argued that it made more sense to send a sample to the OPCW. It would be “a more impartial judge”, he said.
  • He said he did not think the situation would turn into another “cold war in the sense that you and I remember it”. But he said it was “unquestionably true that Russia is on a revanchist path at the moment.”
  • He said Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, remained in a “critical but stable” condition in hospital, while the police officer who came to their aid was responding to treatment.
  • He revealed the heckle he used in the Commons yesterday which led to Jeremy Corbyn claiming he was demeaning his office as foreign secretary. Corbyn made the comment as he was responding to May’s statement. At one point, when Johnson was heckling him, Corbyn said he could not understand what Johnson was saying, but that his behaviour was demeaning. Johnson said he had said to Corbyn as Corbyn was speaking: “Why don’t you condemn Russia?” He said it was striking that Labour MPs did not support their leader’s stance. He said:

[Labour MPs] felt totally unled. You could tell that they felt, at a moment when the country needed to come together, this was a guy who did not seem to be standing [for his country] ... He had a chance to condemn Russia for what they have done and he notably at several points failed to do so.

Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary.
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

On the Today programme this morning the former Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the international response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack must be collective. He told the programme:

A collective response is very important. Anything short of full solidarity with the UK now will be considered a victory for the Kremlin.

Boris Johnson confirms government not backing World Cup boycott despite Russian spy poisoning

Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, has been giving interviews this morning about the Salisbury nerve agent attack and the measures taken against Russia. As my colleague Matthew Weaver reports, Johnson has been urging Britain’s allies to support its stance. But he has also quashed any prospect of the government backing any boycott of the World Cup in Russia later this year. Asked on Today if he would prefer the England team not to go, he replied:

Look, I don’t want to punish either English fans or the English team, I’ve got to be honest with you ... That is not the plan.

Johnson confirmed that Britain would not be sending dignitaries and officials to the tournament. When it was put to him that this would not bother Vladimir Putin very much, Johnson went on:

What I think is far more powerful, far more important, is what we have done in expelling the biggest number of Russian diplomats for 30 years, eviscerating his intelligence capabilities in this country for decades to come.

To be fair, ministers never said they were in favour of a World Cup boycott (unless you take into account the ambiguous statement Johnson himself made in the Commons last week, which was almost immediately clarified by his aides who said he was not referring to the England team). But there has been pressure for a boycott in the press, particularly the Daily Mail (which this government is normally loath to contradict), and until now the government has not said a boycott is definitely off the agenda.

I will post more from his interviews shortly.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: David Davis, the Brexit secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

11am: Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, gives a speech. As Ewen MacAskill reports, he will say that a new UK chemical weapons defence centre is to be established in the wake of the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

3.30pm: Theresa May hosts a meeting of her business advisory council in Downing Street.

4.30pm: George Osborne, the former chancellor, takes part in an LBC phone-in.

You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’ top 10 must reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

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