Starmer first Labour leader to visit Nato in more than 10 years

Keir Starmer to become first Labour leader to visit Nato in more than a decade as Russia threatens Ukraine – while predecessor Jeremy Corbyn prepares to address demo attacking the UK for ‘ramping up the threat of war’

• Opposition leader said Labour was ‘the party of Nato’ ahead of talks in Brussels 
• Sought to put further distance between himself and predecessor over Nato
• Mr Corbyn is a former chairman of the hard Left Stop the War Coalition

Sir Keir Starmer will become the first Labour leader to visit Nato in more than a decade today – as his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn attacks the UK’s aid for Ukraine.

The Opposition leader said Labour was ‘the party of Nato’ ahead of talks in Brussels this afternoon with its secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. 

He attacked Russian aggression on the border with Ukraine as he sought to put further distance between himself and the stance adopted by his predecessor he was in charge. 

Mr Corbyn, a former chairman of the hard Left Stop the War Coalition, was widely criticised for a reluctance to blame Russia for the Salisbury poisoning in 2018.

And while Sir Keir is in Belgium the now independent MP will address a StW online rally entitled No War in Ukraine: Stop Nato Expansion, which will accuse the UK and US of ‘ramping up the threat of war’.

In an interview with The Times, Sir Keir attacked Mr Corbyn over the 2017 Wiltshire nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal, which left the former spy and his daughter badly hurt and a British woman dead.

‘What was said by my predecessor in relation to issues like Salisbury was wrong. I spoke out at the time,’ Sir Keir said.

‘The important thing was not then but now. This is very clearly me reasserting our position on Nato, and intentionally so. It isn’t a new position for the Labour Party because we have always been the party of Nato.’

The Opposition leader said Labour was ‘the party of Nato’ ahead of talks in Brussels this afternoon with its secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.

While Sir Keir is in Belgium, Mr Corbyn will address a StW online rally entitled No War in Ukraine: Stop Nato Expansion

The demo by keyboard warriors will accuse the UK and US of ‘ramping up the threat of war’ in eastern Europe. Russia currently has an estimated 130,000 troops massed along the border with Ukraine.

PM warns ‘stakes are very high’ on Ukraine

Boris Johnson today warned Europe faces the ‘most dangerous moment for decades’ and the ‘stakes are very high’ as he urged Russia to back away from a ‘disastrous’ Ukraine invasion.

At a joint press conference with Nato general secretary Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, the PM said he did not believe Vladimir Putin had made a final decision on whether to send troops over the border.

But Mr Johnson admitted the signs were not good, insisting that Mr Putin will face a strong response if he does go ahead.

Arguing that the next few days will be crucial, Mr Johnson – who will visit Poland later – said: ‘The stakes are very high. And this is a very dangerous moment…

‘I honestly don’t think a decision has yet been taken but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible that something absolutely disastrous could happen very soon indeed.

‘Our intelligence, I’m afraid to say, remains grim. We’re seeing the massing of huge numbers of tactical battalion groups on the border with Ukraine.

‘This is probably the most dangerous moment in the course of the next few days in what is the biggest security crisis Europe has faced for decades.’

Sir Keir argued Mr Johnson’s standing on the world stage has been weakened by the scandals in No 10.

‘His authority has been diminished because of the various activities over the last few months,’ Sir Keir said.

Russia currently has an estimated 130,000 troops massed along the border with Ukraine, prompting fears that it is preparing for a full-scale invasion.

Mr Corbyn was widely criticised four years ago when he resisted stating that the Russian authorities were behind the poison attack.

The strike left former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter fighting for their lives in hospital.

It also killed British mother of three Dawn Stugess, 44, after she accidentally sprayed the poison on herself after finding it in a perfume bottle.

Then prime minister Theresa May said all the evidence pointed to the Russian state ordering the attempted hit in March 2018 – but Mr Corbyn spent months refusing to blame the Kremlin and even urged the UK to send a sample of the Novichok to Russia for testing.

It was not until a speech to the Labour party conference in Liverpool the following September that he finally admitted the evidence showed Russia was behind it. 

But he also launched into an excoriating attack on the leader of America – Britain’s closest ally.

And vowed to overhaul Britain’s role on the world stage – warning its current position is no longer sustainable. 

He also previously played down Moscow’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014, suggesting that NATO was to blame for the aggression. 

Liz Truss delivered a tough message that the Kremlin must to ‘stop the Cold War rhetoric’ and step back from a ‘disastrous’ invasion of Ukraine during tense talks with counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

She warned that Kiev must not be ‘bullied’, demanding Russia backs up its claims about having ‘no plans’ to breach its neighbour’s border with ‘actions’. 

But in the discussions and a joint press conference Mr Lavrov launched a series of barbs, dismissing ‘ultimatums and moralising’ from the West and comparing their conversation to a ‘deaf and a mute’.

‘Ideological approaches, ultimatums and moralizing is a road to nowhere,’ the notorious political bruiser said.

Ms Truss observed that she had definitely not been mute in their discussions, and urged a ‘diplomatic’ solution.

The brutal exchanges came as Boris Johnson embarked on his own trip to Nato HQ in Brussels and then Poland, warning that Europe faces the ‘most dangerous moment for decades’ and the ‘stakes are very high’.

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