Boris Johnson will not apologise for his Jimmy Savile slur against Keir Starmer despite protesters harassing the Labour leader outside parliament on Monday.
The Prime Minister faces a furious backlash for the false claim that Starmer had failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions.
Ten Tory MPs called for Johnson to properly apologise for the claims he made in the House of Commons last week after anti-vaccine protesters surrounded Starmer near parliament and called him a “paedophile protector” and yelled “Jimmy Savile”.
The Labour leader had to be bundled into a police car to take him away from the mob, one of whom carried a noose.
But as Downing Street made it clear that the Prime Minister would go no further than his general condemnation of the abuse of Starmer, a Minister was sent in front of the cameras to deliver the excuses.
Downing Street sources made it clear that Johnson has no intention of saying sorry.
“His tweet last night made it clear he condemns the mob,” said a source.
“The fact is that Starmer himself apologised for what happened on his watch in 2013.”
Chris Philip, the digital minister, said Johnson’s comment that Starmer had failed to prosecute the prolific child sex offender was “not incorrect”.
He said the Prime Minister had already clarified he did not mean Starmer took the decision when he led the Crown Prosecution Service.
Philip added:“I don’t think there is any way you can reasonably suggest that the comments on Keir Starmer’s overall responsibility for the CPS in any way provoked the very unseemly and totally unacceptable harassment we saw last night.”
The sister of Jo Cox, the Labour MP murdered in 2016 by a far-right extremist, warned about the consequences of politicians giving credibility to far-right conspiracies.
Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater, who is MP for her seat of Batley and Spen, said: “I’m incredibly angry and upset by the scenes we saw yesterday. I keep thinking about Keir and David’s families and friends. But these things don’t just happen.
“Words have consequences, leaders have a duty to behave responsibly and politics is not a game. Our country deserves far better.”
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