diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Cron.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Cron.php
index 046216e..b4afedc 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Cron.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Cron.php
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 use Drupal\Core\Session\AccountProxyInterface;
 use Drupal\Core\Session\AnonymousUserSession;
 use Drupal\Core\Session\SessionManagerInterface;
+use Drupal\Core\Queue\SuspendQueueException;
 
 /**
  * The Drupal core Cron service.
@@ -167,9 +168,17 @@ protected function processQueues() {
             call_user_func_array($callback, array($item->data));
             $queue->deleteItem($item);
           }
+          catch (SuspendQueueException $e) {
+            // If the worker indicates there is a problem with the whole queue,
+            // skip it.
+            watchdog_exception('cron', $e);
+
+            // Skip to the next queue.
+            continue 2;
+          }
           catch (\Exception $e) {
-            // In case of exception log it and leave the item in the queue
-            // to be processed again later.
+            // In case of any other kind of exception, log it and leave the item
+            // in the queue to be processed again later.
             watchdog_exception('cron', $e);
           }
         }
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Queue/SuspendQueueException.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Queue/SuspendQueueException.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8710652
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Queue/SuspendQueueException.php
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * @file
+ * Definition of Drupal\Core\Queue\SuspendQueueException.
+ */
+
+namespace Drupal\Core\Queue;
+
+/**
+ * An exception that a queue worker may throw to indicate that processing of the
+ * whole queue should be skipped. This should be thrown rather than a normal
+ * Exception if the problem encountered by the queue worker is such that it can
+ * be deduced that workers of subsequent items would encounter it too. For
+ * example, if a remote site that the queue worker depends on appears to be
+ * inaccessible.
+ */
+class SuspendQueueException extends \RuntimeException {}
diff --git a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/System/CronQueueTest.php b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/System/CronQueueTest.php
index 2bbd872..f85fade 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/System/CronQueueTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/System/CronQueueTest.php
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ public static function getInfo() {
    * Tests that exceptions thrown by workers are handled properly.
    */
   public function testExceptions() {
-
+    // Get the queue to test the normal Exception.
     $queue = $this->container->get('queue')->get('cron_queue_test_exception');
 
     // Enqueue an item for processing.
@@ -45,5 +45,26 @@ public function testExceptions() {
 
     // The item should be left in the queue.
     $this->assertEqual($queue->numberOfItems(), 1, 'Failing item still in the queue after throwing an exception.');
+
+    // Get the queue to test the specific SuspendQueueException.
+    $queue = $this->container->get('queue')->get('cron_queue_test_broken_queue');
+
+    // Enqueue several item for processing.
+    $queue->createItem('process');
+    $queue->createItem('crash');
+    $queue->createItem('ignored');
+
+    // Run cron; the worker for this queue should process as far as the crashing
+    // item.
+    $this->cronRun();
+
+    // Only one item should have been processed.
+    $this->assertEqual($queue->numberOfItems(), 2, 'Failing queue stopped processing at the failing item.');
+
+    // Check the items remaining in the queue.
+    $item = $queue->claimItem();
+    $this->assertEqual($item->data, 'crash', 'Failing item remains in the queue.');
+    $item = $queue->claimItem();
+    $this->assertEqual($item->data, 'ignored', 'Item beyond the failing item remains in the queue.');
   }
 }
diff --git a/core/modules/system/system.api.php b/core/modules/system/system.api.php
index 4447052..b18c1e8 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/system.api.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/system.api.php
@@ -168,6 +168,13 @@ function hook_queue_info_alter(&$queues) {
  *   The worker callback may throw an exception to indicate there was a problem.
  *   The cron process will log the exception, and leave the item in the queue to
  *   be processed again later.
+ * @throws \Drupal\Core\Queue\SuspendQueueException
+ *   More specifically, a SuspendQueueException should be thrown when the
+ *   callback is aware that the problem will affect all subsequent workers of
+ *   its queue. For example, a callback that makes HTTP requests may find that
+ *   the remote server is not responding. The cron process will behave as with a
+ *   normal Exception, and in addition will not attempt to process further items
+ *   from the current item's queue during the current cron run.
  *
  * @see \Drupal\Core\Cron::run()
  */
diff --git a/core/modules/system/tests/modules/cron_queue_test/cron_queue_test.module b/core/modules/system/tests/modules/cron_queue_test/cron_queue_test.module
index b88892f..c46fdb9 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/tests/modules/cron_queue_test/cron_queue_test.module
+++ b/core/modules/system/tests/modules/cron_queue_test/cron_queue_test.module
@@ -9,9 +9,30 @@ function cron_queue_test_queue_info() {
       'time' => 60,
     ),
   );
+  $queues['cron_queue_test_broken_queue'] = array(
+    'title' => t('Broken queue test'),
+    'worker callback' => 'cron_queue_test_broken_queue',
+    // Only needed if this queue should be processed by cron.
+    'cron' => array(
+      'time' => 60,
+    ),
+  );
+
   return $queues;
 }
 
 function cron_queue_test_exception($item) {
   throw new Exception('That is not supposed to happen.');
 }
+
+/**
+ * Implements callback_queue_worker().
+ *
+ * This queue is declared broken if the queue item data is 'crash'.
+ */
+function cron_queue_test_broken_queue($queue_item_data) {
+  if ($queue_item_data == 'crash') {
+    throw new \Drupal\Core\Queue\SuspendQueueException('The queue is broken.');
+  }
+  // Do nothing otherwise.
+}