Corbyn and Griffith in “friendly” meeting after claims of rift on Russia and Nato

Jeremy Corbyn tonight tried to move on from an apparent split with a shadow cabinet colleague over the role of British troops in a Nato mission in Estonia.

Corbyn spoke to Nia Griffith today in what was described as a “friendly” meeting while his aides rubbished suggestions that she had considered stepping down as shadow defence secretary.

The apparent row was triggered after Corbyn’s spokesman was reported as saying the leader had concerns the Nato deployment – which includes hundreds of British service men and women – could contribute to an “escalation of tensions” in Estonia, which represents the border of Nato members with Russia.

A spokesperson for the leader said: “Jeremy had a friendly and constructive meeting with Nia today.”

It came towards the end of a difficult week for Corbyn in which he appeared to backpedal over proposals for a “maximum earnings limit” in the aftermath of a series of broadcast appearances to mark his “re-launch” on Tuesday morning.

Tonight people close to Corbyn suggested the situation with Griffith had been inflamed by inaccurate media reports and that there had never been any question of the Llanelli MP quitting the shadow cabinet.

“The concern had been about what was reported to have been said, not what was actually said. They will continue to work together to develop Labour’s defence policy.”

Griffith was described as being angry over the comments by Corbyn’s spokesman on Wednesday.

Earlier today Corbyn told BBC Wales he wanted to see a calming in the friction between Estonia and Russia saying: “I want to see a de-militarisation of the border between them. I’m sure everybody wants that, we don’t want to see increased tensions”.