JEREMY Corbyn has been accused by a senior Conservative of siding with Russia over the Salisbury poisoning row.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former Foreign Secretary, also said the prospect of the Labour leader becoming Prime Minister "makes me tremble".
The 71-year-old Scot claimed Mr Corbyn’s approach to national security left "a huge gap to be desired".
It came as Sir Malcolm said Russia was using classic attempts to obfuscate over the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.
The former chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee said classified intelligence shared with foreign governments had convinced them to take action against Russia.
Asked if the same information should be shared with the Leader of the Opposition should he request it, Sir Malcolm replied: "I don't necessarily have a strong view on that, because frankly Mr Corbyn's rather doubtful in terms of the way he deals with issues of this kind."
He went on: "I am saying that Mr Corbyn's whole approach on matters of national security leaves a huge gap to be desired.
"And the idea that somebody like that might one day be in Downing Street makes me tremble, if I even thought it was serious."
Sir Malcolm suggested the Labour leader had already made up his mind on the Salisbury incident, noting: “He is already saying he is on the same side, essentially, as the Russians on this matter.”
He also described a UN meeting on Thursday night over the attack in Salisbury as "a classic Russian attempt to obfuscate".
The former Scottish Secretary explained: "They are in a very serious position because it's not just the United Kingdom that has taken action against them. In an unprecedented way that didn't happen during the Cold War, 29 countries have withdrawn their diplomats.
"So what we're seeing at the moment is exactly what they did when they were found cheating with the Olympics, the Winter Olympics, and they were expelled from that.
"When they were seen to be using their troops to annex Crimea, denying it at first; it's classic Russian attempts to obfuscate and it's not working," Sir Malcolm added.
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