Matt Hancock says best way to respond to Skripal poisoning would be to win final in Moscow

The culture, media and sport secretary, Matt Hancock, has said the best way to respond to the poisoning of a Russian double agent in Salisbury would be for England to win the World Cup final in Moscow.

Hancock was asked by ITV’s Good Morning Britain whether Britain should boycott the tournament over government claims that the Kremlin was behind the attack in Salisbury on Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

He said: “Actually the best response frankly to all of this would be for England to go to the World Cup in Russia and win it. If we won it we would be demonstrating that we have got the best football team in the world and it should be about that.”

His remarks contrast with comments made by the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, who said Vladimir Putin would glory in the tournament in the same way that Adolf Hitler did over the 1936 Olympics. Earlier this month Johnson hastily retreated from an apparent suggestion in the Commons that England should boycott the tournament, claiming he had meant that dignitaries would not be sent.

Boris Johnson compares Russian World Cup to Hitler's 1936 Olympics Read more

Hancock dodged a question about whether he would be comfortable about the prospect of Putin handing the World Cup to the England team. He said: “Would I be comfortable with England winning the World Cup? Yes I would, I’d be absolutely delighted. I think the whole nation would be thrilled.”

Asked about Johnson’s comments, he said: “I’m not going to criticise Boris Johnson over this, he was answering a specific question and the key thing we are absolutely focused on is making sure that the team is safe and that fans are safe and we don’t send dignitaries to give the World Cup special billing.”

He added: “I think the team should go and should play as well as they can. That is the best thing to do in these circumstances.”

Later, Hancock attempted to clarify his remarks about winning the tournament. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “I was asked specifically about what would be the best response in terms of the World Cup. Of course that is a tiny part of the overall response in terms of the country as a whole. We want the team to go but we don’t want to send dignitaries alongside that.”