Boris Johnson has backed down on his smear linking Keir Starmer and Jimmy Savile, admitting the Labour leader had “nothing to do” with decisions on the case.
The prime minister’s humiliating climbdown came after a number of Conservative MPs voiced distaste over his comments, which former home secretary Amber Rudd branded “disgraceful” and “Trumpian”.
Mr Johnson will now come under intense pressure to apologise for his comments, widely seen as an effort to distract attention from allegations he repeatedly breached lockdown rules, in what is known as a “dead cat” strategy.
The incident is certain to increase question marks over his future as PM, with Tory MPs privately saying that his use of the smear had made them more likely to demand a vote on his removal.
Under fierce questioning in the House of Commons after Sue Gray’s finding of a “failure of leadership” over No 10 parties, Mr Johnson lashed out in what appeared to be a pre-planned attempt to divert criticism onto the Labour leader.
In his time as director of public prosecutions, Mr Johnson claimed, Starmer had “spent more time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, as far as I can make out”.
An official report at the time made clear that Sir Keir played no part in decisions which prevented the prosecution of the paedophile celebrity, but he apologised as DPP on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service.
The slur was cited by senior Tory MP Tobias Ellwood yesterday when he announced he was writing a letter of no confidence in Johnson as leader, and a string of other senior Conservatives called on the PM to withdraw his remark.
Starmer himself said that the party once led by Churchill was now helmed by a man “parroting the conspiracy theories of violent fascists”.
Johnson stood by his slur in a newspaper interview and at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday.
But challenged over the comments during a visit to Blackpool on Thursday, he told TV cameras: “I want to be very clear about this because a lot of people have got very hot under the collar, and I understand why.
“Let’s be absolutely clear, I’m talking not about the Leader of the Opposition’s personal record when he was DPP and I totally understand that he had nothing to do personally with those decisions.
“I was making a point about his responsibility for the organisation as a whole. I really do want to clarify that because it is important.”
TV presenter Savile was knighted by a previous Conservative administration for his charity work in 1990, but was exposed after his 2011 death as a serial child sex abuser who had preyed on young people over six decades.
