Jeremy Corbyn refuses six times to back Labour's manifesto pledge to renew Trident

Jeremy Corbyn was challenged on Friday night  over his ability to keep Britain safe if he comes prime minister.

In an interview with the BBC's Andrew Neil, the Labour leader was confronted over his record on Northern Ireland, Nato and Trident nuclear weapons.

Mr Corbyn denied supporting the IRA but again fell short of condemning the republican group.

He also conceded that his view on Nato had not changed, after the BBC's Andrew Neil asked if he stood by his previous description of the alliance as a "very dangerous Frankenstein" which should be "wound up".

Mr Corbyn refused six times to back his own party's manifesto pledge to renew Trident. He also conceded that the role of nuclear weapons would be examined as part of a Strategic Defence Review if he became prime minister - raising the prospect that the pledge could still be scrapped.

He came under pressure over his record on defence and security issues in the interview on Friday night after it emerged that he once boasted about his longstanding efforts to block anti-terrorism laws in Britain.

The interview came after Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Manchester, said Mr Corbyn was wrong to link terror attacks in Britain to the country’s deployment of troops overseas, in a speech given on Friday morning.

He also faced criticism over his comments, following the terror attack in Manchester, from Theresa May and other members of the Cabinet.

Mr Corbyn was challenged by Neil over his past association with convicted IRA terrorists, whom he invited to tea in the Commons.

Neil asked: "Why would the British people want as their leader a man who for years supported the IRA?"

Mr Corbyn replied: "I didn’t support the IRA. I don’t support the IRA. What I want everywhere is a peace process. What I want everywhere is decency and human rights."

Pressed over whether he maintained his view that Nato was a dangerous organisation, Mr Corbyn said: "I want to work within Nato to promote a human rights democracy and under a Labour government that’s exactly what we’d be doing."

Asked again whether he had changed his views on the alliance, he replied: "No."

Mr Corbyn, a longstanding opponent of nuclear weapons, also declined six times to say whether he backed the renewal of Trident - despite the pledge appearing in Labour's manifesto following a vote by the party.

"I voted against the renewal," he said. "Everybody knows that because I wanted to go in a different direction. That is the decision that’s been taken; I respect that decision going ahead."

He also admitted that the nuclear weapons would form part of his defence review if he became prime minister, prompting a hurried denial from his spokesman that renewal of Trident was "in question".

Priti Patel, Secretary of State for International Development, said: “Corbyn didn’t answer a single question in that interview.  He spent half an hour trying to escape from everything he had said and done in his 30 years in politics.

“The fact is he backed the IRA, doesn’t support NATO, wouldn’t renew Trident, wants to increase immigration and wants to massively increase taxes on working families. 

“In two weeks’ time there is a choice.  Either Jeremy Corbyn negotiating Brexit just 11 days after the election, or Theresa May.  Brexit is central to everything – a vote for anyone other than Theresa May puts Corbyn in Downing Street and everything at risk.”

On Friday Mr Corbyn was criticised by Andy Burnham, his former leadership rival, over a speech in which he pointed to “the connections between wars our government has supported or fought in other countries and terrorism here at home”.

In an interview with Talk Radio Mr Burnham warned that there was a “tendency to blame governments for everything, and I don’t think we should.”

In the speech Mr Corbyn denied that he was unpatriotic by linking terror attacks to the deployment of British troops overseas, in the week a suicide bomber killed 22 concert-goers, including young children, at Manchester Arena.

On Monday Mr Corbyn and Mrs May will be grilled for 45 minutes each by Jeremy Paxman, the former Newsnight interviewer.

The debate’s organisers Sky News and Channel 4 determined by a toss of a coin that Mr Corbyn will face questions before Mrs May.

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