Theresa May has never published her case blaming Russia for the Salisbury poisoning. She has reason to be wary of Blair-style intelligence dossiers, and she didn’t need to make everything public to win the support of allies. But as things stand, her case against Russia is open to misinterpretation by the Kremlin. As we have seen with this morning’s headlines.
Yesterday, Sky News interviewed Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of Porton Down, who said:
“We were able to identify it as Novichok, to identify it was a military-grade nerve agent. We have not verified the precise source, but we have provided the scientific information to the government, who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions that they have come to.”
His confirmation that they have “not verified the precise source” was more information than the government has so far offered on the record, therefore it was news.
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