Furious Tories accuse Corbyn of 'making excuses for terrorists'

The Government's Chief Whip said it was 'scandalous' that Mr Corbyn had attempted to justify the actions of terrorists and accused him of politicising the Manchester terror attack.

Mr Williamson is among a number of high profile cabinet ministers to condemn Mr Corbyn's speech.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson described it as 'absolutely monstrous', while Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said it showed Mr Corbyn's 'very muddled and dangerous thinking'.

In his first major speech since national election campaigning resumed after Monday's atrocity, the Labour leader insisted there were links between Britain's military interventions abroad and terror at home.

An outraged Mr Williamson told the Express & Star: "Jeremy Corbyn has always been a pacifist. He does not believe in any form of military intervention or indeed in the defence of his country.

"I this speech he is making excuses for terrorists. There is absolutely no excuse for terrorism. It is quite frankly scandalous that he has attempted to justify this barbaric attack on innocent children that was carried out by a crazed individual."

The parliamentary candidate for South Staffordshire added: "I hope that Labour candidates will be swift to distance themselves from his attempts to politicise this terrible situation."

Speaking alongside US secretary of state Rex Tillerson in London, Mr Johnson said he found it 'absolutely extraordinary and inexplicable in this week of all weeks that there should be any attempt to justify or to legitimate the actions of terrorists in this way'.

He added: "This is a moment ... when we should be coming together, uniting to defeat these people, and we can and we will, not just in Iraq and in Syria but of course in the battle for the hearts and minds.

"They are wrong, their view of the world is a corruption and perversion of Islam and it can be completely confounded.

"But now is not the time to do anything to subtract from the fundamental responsibility of those individuals, that individual in particular, who committed this atrocity and I think it is absolutely monstrous that anybody should seek to do so."

Mr Fallon said Mr Corbyn's words were 'very badly timed' and showed his 'very muddled and dangerous thinking'.

"He seems to be implying that a terrorist attack in Manchester is somehow our fault, it’s somehow Britain’s fault," he added.

"Jeremy Corbyn is far too ready to ready to find excuses and far too slow to support the police and the security services."

Mr Corbyn also came under fire from senior Labour figure Mike Gapes, who said Islamic State terrorists 'hate us for what we are', not 'for what we do'.

"Our foreign policy is used as justification for their crimes. It is not the reason," he added.