LABOUR BACKTRACK
Corbyn’s right-hand man John McDonnell finally admits Putin IS responsible for spy poisoning after Labour boss cast doubt on Kremlin guilt
The shadow chancellor backed Theresa May's response to the attempted hit on Sergei Skripal
LABOUR bosses carried out a screeching U-turn today as they FINALLY pointed the finger at Vladimir Putin for the Salisbury poison attack.
Jeremy Corbyn's closest ally insisted the Russian president is personally responsible for the attempted hit on Sergei Skripal.
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John McDonnell's admission came after Mr Corbyn repeatedly refused to condemn the Kremlin and warned against creating a witch-hunt.
The shadow chancellor, who is the Labour leader's right-hand man, backed Theresa May's response to Putin's crimes.
He told ITV's Peston on Sunday: "I agree completely with the Prime Minister - what she's said is that Russia is culpable."
Asked if he blames Putin himself, Mr McDonnell replied: "Whichever way you look at it he is responsible, and all the evidence points to him.
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"We support exactly what the Prime Minister said and we condemn Russia for this, condemn them.";
Blasting the Kremlin's crackdown against dissidents, he added: "Anyone who opposed the regime or exposes corruption has been murdered systematically."
Another Corbyn ally, Labour law boss Shami Chakrabarti, also said she supported Mrs May's actions - which have seen 23 Russian spies thrown out of Britain.
She told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "What I think is what Theresa May has said, which is there's a responsibility of the regime."
Earlier this week Mr Corbyn struck a much more cautious note - whipping up fury among his own MPs.
He refused to blame Russia directly for the attack, suggesting it could have been carried out by gangsters instead.
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The Labour leader also suggested Britain should let the Kremlin carry out its own tests on the nerve agent used to poison Mr Skripal - and compared Mrs May's tough response to "a McCarthyite intolerance of dissent".
Mr Corbyn's chief aide Seumas Milne sparked further anger by comparing the probe into the Salisbury scandal to the botched search for WMDs in Iraq.
Mr McDonnell insisted his boss was giving a "constructive critique" which was "misread" by his critics.
Labour MPs lined up in the Commons to praise Mrs May and call for a united front against Putin.
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And several shadow cabinet ministers blasted the Kremlin in a defiant rebuke of the party leader.
Intelligence officials are confident the novichok poison deployed against Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia must have come from Russian government stocks.
The PM concluded Putin's regime was responsible after the country refused to give an alternative explanation to how the nerve agent reached Britain.
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