LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn is coming under increasing pressure to change his stance on Russia after the Salisbury poisoning but yesterday he gained support from a quarter he probably doesn’t want – Scotland’s former First Minister Alex Salmond.
The SNP politician turned broadcaster said on his LBC radio chat show: “It’s been a tough week for Jeremy Corbyn. It began midweek when he replied to the Prime Minister’s statement on the Salisbury poisoning.
“Jeremy Corbyn, instead of falling directly into line with everything the Prime Minister said, proceeded to ask a series of questions suggesting that there was more information required before a final determination is made.”
Corbyn was criticised for saying: “To rush way ahead of the evidence being gathered by the police, in a fevered parliamentary atmosphere, serves neither justice nor our national security.”
Salmon said yesterday: “He asked a series of questions, but people like myself think the leader of the opposition is entitled to ask questions like that.
“If he’s not prepared to ask questions why then would he be leader of the opposition?”
Referring to Corbyn’s article in the Guardian, Salmon added: “He made it clear he thought that the finger of suspicion pointed to Russian involvement but retained the position that more evidence was needed before a final determination could be made as to the source of the agent which poisoned the Skripals.”
Earlier, Salmond’s RT chat show was the subject of debate on Peston on Sunday when the SNP leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford, said he would not be going on the show.
Blackford said: “Alex is a private individual. What he does is always his responsibility. The fact remains that there are dozens of MPs who have appeared on RT over the course of the last couple of years and many MPs have been paid to be on that show.”
Blackford was then asked whether it was appropriate for former MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh to be a producer with the show while on the SNP’s executive committee.
He said: “She’s not a paid official of the party. She’s on the national executive. She’s elected by the party.
“She does a very valuable role when it comes to women’s inequality issues.”
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