European leaders are poised to expel Russian spies across the Continent tomorrow, after Theresa May won promises of concerted action despite vocal resistance to confronting Moscow from leaders including Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission.

In the wake of the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, a summit meant to focus on Brexit and resisting Donald Trump’s steel tariffs instead spent nearly four hours in talks from Thursday night into the early hours of Friday, with even neutral countries such as Sweden and Finland expressing their anxiety over Russian meddling on European soil.

The prime minister scotched doubts from sceptics in the room and won support for a stiffer response, in a win that surprised