A key ally of Jeremy Corbyn has suggested moderate Labour MPs who blame Russia for spy poisoning are "enemies" who should be deselected.

Chris Williamson, the Labour MP for Derby North, said Labour MPs who had decided Moscow was “unequivocally” to blame were “baying for blood” and suggested they face de-selection.

Mr Corbyn, the Labour leader, is under intense pressure over his repeated failure this week to condemn directly Russia for carrying out a nerve agent attack in the UK.

Splits have emerged between Mr Corbyn and key members of his shadow cabinet who have unequivocably backed Theresa May’s handling of the Salisbury poisoning crisis.

By last night 33 Labour MPs had signed a Commons motion “unequivocally accepts the Russian state's culpability for the poisoning of Yulia and Sergei Skripal in Salisbury using the illegal novichok nerve agent”.

Some are now set to try to table a motion of no confidence in Seumas Milne, the Labour party’s communications chief who is blamed for Mr Corbyn’s moderate line on Russia, at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday evening.