President Trump broke his silence on the poisoning of a former MI6 agent and his daughter this afternoon, saying that Britain would have the full backing of the United States if Moscow proved to be responsible.

Mr Trump said that the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury this month “sounds to me like it would be Russia, based on all the evidence they [the British] have.”

As he left the White Hose to travel to California, he added: “Theresa May is going to be speaking to me today. It sounds to me like they believe it was Russia and I would certainly take that finding as fact.

Sergei Lavrov: “We’ve got nothing to do with it” REUTERS

“As soon as we get the facts straight … if we agree