Keir Starmer has angrily defended himself against Boris Johnson’s “untrue slur” that he failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
The Labour leader said the Prime Minister was trying to drag everyone “into the gutter” with his behaviour after Johnson repeated the false accusation against Starmer in the Commons.
In the heated debate on the Sue Gray report on Monday Johnson lashed out that Starmer had “used his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, as far as I can see”.
Hitting back at the false accusation on Tuesday, the Labour leader said this claim is a “ridiculous slur peddled by right-wing trolls”.
Starmer said he could see “disgust” in the faces of the Tory MPs when Johnson “debased himself” by bringing up the paedophile Savile.
He told ITV ’s Good Morning Britain: “It’s a slur, it’s untrue, it’s desperate from the Prime Minister.
“I was really struck yesterday in the House at how many Conservative MPs were disgusted at that untruth from the despatch box.”
Of course on our side, people were disgusted. But his own MPs couldn’t believe their Prime Minister had stooped that low.
“He’s degraded the whole office. And this is how he operates. He drags everybody into the gutter with him.
“Everybody he touches, everybody that comes into contact with him is contaminated by this Prime Minister.”
Starmer led the Crown Prosecution Service when it decided not to prosecute Savile in 2009 due to insufficient evidence, a decision it later apologised for. But there is no evidence that Starmer was personally involved in the decision.
Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab was left to defend Johnson’s claim on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme but refused to repeat what Johnson said
Raab, himself a lawyer, said: “I don’t have the facts to justify that,” before trying to move on.
Former Tory cabinet minister Julian Smith who previously worked in Johnson’s government also weighed into the debate on Tuesday, and said it was an indefensible accusation to make.
He tweeted: “It should be withdrawn. False and baseless personal slurs are dangerous, corrode trust and can’t just be accepted as part of the cut and thrust of parliamentary debate.”
