Jeremy Corbyn was yesterday accused of being an "apologist for Russia" after suggesting Moscow may not be responsible for a nerve agent attack, as furious Labour MPs turned on him in the House of Commons.

The Labour leader and his spokesman Seumas Milne repeatedly failed to accept that Russia is responsible for the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter and later called British intelligence "problematic", warning another state could be to blame.

Labour MPs called for Mr Milne's resignation last night with one branding his behaviour "deplorable", while a shadow minister warned his comments showed a "complete lack of understanding of the mood of Parliament and the British people".

The remarks prompted John Woodcock, the Labour chair of the backbench defence committee, and a group of his parliamentary colleagues, to table a formal motion throwing his support behind the Prime Minister in defiance of their leader.