Greatly Prefer His Approach

Peter Oborne writes:  

I want to put in a word for Jeremy Corbyn at the end of a week in which he has been almost universally condemned. 

Mr Corbyn was doing his duty as Leader of the Opposition to urge caution after the poisoning of Russian exile Sergei Skripal and his daughter. We still don’t know for certain who poisoned Skripal or even when it happened.

I fully accept that the finger of suspicion reasonably points towards Russia. But I believe Mr Corbyn had some justification in claiming that official Government sources cannot be trusted implicitly. 

Think of deplorable episodes such as Tony Blair’s overblown dossier of chemical and biological weapons ahead of the Iraq War, and George Osborne’s deceitful ‘Project Fear’, foisted on the British public with the assent of the Treasury during the EU referendum campaign. 

It is better to take our time to get to the bottom of this crime so that we can punish the perpetrators, whomever they may be. 

Mr Corbyn has made errors of tone and judgment. But I greatly prefer his approach to the bravado of Britain’s increasingly ludicrous Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson.