"This weekend Jeremy Corbyn said the IRA bombing campaign was ‘completely wrong because it was taking civilian lives’. As condemnations go this is a very hollow one, because the obvious implication is that had bombings ‘only’ taken the lives of the military and police, they would have somehow been acceptable.

“There is also no mention of the IRA’s shooting campaign, which was directed against anyone who stood in their way, be they military, police or civilian. This is a simply unbelievable position and an insult to all those who died at the hands of the IRA or who bravely risked their lives to defeat them.  

“He is no-longer a backbench MP on the fringes of his party, he is now the Labour leader who wants to be Prime Minister in less than a fortnight and his views matter. When one looks at Mr Corbyn’s past words and deeds it is clear to see where he is coming from and how he really views terrorism.

“Shortly after the IRA’s Poppy Day bomb – which in 1987 killed eleven people and injured 63 others at a War Memorial in Enniskillen – Mr Corbyn signed a parliamentary motion which blamed Britain’s ‘occupation’ of Northern Ireland for the massacre. Any normal person would have blamed the terrorists responsible for planting the bomb, but not Mr Corbyn, nor indeed his Home Secretary in waiting, Diane Abbot, who also signed this disgraceful motion. He blamed Britain then and he blames Britain now for the attacks which we are currently facing from Islamist extremists.   

“It is utterly shameful that it has taken the murder of 22 people in a Manchester concert hall to drag any kind of condemnation of IRA terrorism out of Jeremy Corbyn. The British people need to be fully aware of exactly what Mr Corbyn stands for. His record is there for all to see.”