Amber Rudd: Salisbury attack was 'brazen and reckless'
The attempted murder of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, using a nerve agent was a "brazen and reckless" act, Amber Rudd has said.
Mr Skripal and his daughter are still critically ill after being found collapsed on a bench in Salisbury city centre on Sunday.
Counter-terrorism officers are working to find the origin of the nerve agent.
A police officer, who was in intensive care, is now "stable and conscious", Wiltshire's chief constable said.
Wiltshire Police named the officer as Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey.
Addressing the House of Commons, the home secretary said the attack was "attempted murder in the most cruel and public way".
Ms Rudd told MPs it was an "outrageous crime", adding that the government would "act without hesitation as the facts become clearer".
She refused to speculate on whether the Russian state might have been involved in the attack, saying the police investigation should be based on "facts, not rumour".
However, she said the government was committed to bringing the perpetrators to justice "whoever they are and wherever they may be".
Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey is now in a stable condition after being treated in intensive care after the incident
Prime Minister Theresa May told ITV News that "if action needs to be taken then the government will do that".
"We will do what is appropriate, we will do what is right, if it is proved to be the case that this is state-sponsored," she said.
Russia has denied it was involved.
Meanwhile, a doctor who was one of the first people at the scene has described how she found Ms Skripal slumped unconscious on a bench, vomiting and fitting. She had also lost control of her bodily functions.
The woman, who asked not to be named, told the BBC she moved Ms Skripal into the recovery position and opened her airway, as others tended to her father.
She said she treated her for almost 30 minutes, saying there was no sign of any chemical agent on Ms Skripal's face or body.
The doctor said she had been worried she would be affected by the nerve agent, but added that she "feels fine".
BBC correspondent Leila Nathoo said there had been "a flurry of activity" outside Mr Skripal's Salisbury home on Thursday.
She said ambulances and an incident response team were in attendance and a police tent had been erected outside the house.
Analysis
Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious
The fact the nerve agent is "very rare" will help the investigation narrow its focus.
Making nerve agents and delivering them requires considerable infrastructure and the more unusual the agent the easier it will be to locate which country, even which laboratory, might be involved.
That combined with police leads on who delivered the agent will form the basis for a determination of responsibility, along with any other intelligence that can be gathered.
It may take days - even weeks - for the government to be confident enough to make a public statement, because it will not want to risk getting any details wrong.
But if suspicions about Russia are confirmed, then some kind of action seems inevitable.
The legacy of the 2006 Litvinenko case shows that expelling diplomats alone may not be regarded as much of a deterrent to future acts.
Economic sanctions on the Russian elite may have more bite, but would require greater political will.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43326734