Boris Johnson has faced fresh calls to reconsider his claim that the party’s leader Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute notorious child sex offender Jimmy Savile.
Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions at lunchtime on Wednesday, the Labour MP Ruth Jones drew comparisons between Mr Johnson’s remarks about Sir Keir and comments he had made in 2017 about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe which, she said, may have led to the British-Iranian woman receiving an extended jail term in Iran.
“In 2017 Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was condemned to an extended prison sentence in Iran because of careless words from this Prime Minister,” Ms Jones said.
“Now in 2022, this week, my friend, the leader of the opposition was hounded by thugs outside Parliament because of careless words from this Prime Minister. So will he do the decent thing: reconsider his words, recant and resign.”
Mr Johnson has repeatedly refused to apologise for his Jimmy Savile jibe at Sir Keir, insisting he was not making a personal attack but a point about Sir Keir’s overall responsibility for the decision on Savile when he was Director of Public Prosecutions.
On Monday Sir Keir had to be bundled into a police car after he was ambushed by a mob of protesters, some of whom shouted Savile slurs.
In reply to Ms Jones’s question, Mr Johnson said the “thugs and bullies” who targeted Sir Keir should not be let off the hook and nor should Iran be let off the hook.
Mr Johnson was accused of making a misleading statement in 2017 when he told MPs while Foreign Secretary that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been “simply teaching people journalism” when she was arrested by the Iranian authorities. Her family has always maintained she was on holiday when she was detained.
Ministers have defended Mr Johnson, stressing the hardline regime in Tehran is to blame for the cruelty of imprisoning Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe who they stress is innocent.
