Boris Johnson’s Jimmy Savile jab at Keir Starmer branded ‘a disgrace’

Prime minister reaches for false claim while on the ropes over lockdown rule-breaking

Boris Johnson has been branded a “disgrace” after he falsely accused Sir Keir Starmer of being behind a failure to prosecute Jimmy Savile.

A former chief prosecutor said it was “not true” that the Labour leader failed to prosecute Savile – a claim made by the prime minister in the Commons on Monday.

The suggestion, made by the PM while he was on the ropes during an exchange about lockdown parties, is also contrary to the findings of an independent fact-checking organisation.

During a debate about the Sue Gray report Mr Johnson said that “the report does absolutely nothing to substantiate the tissue of nonsense that he has said”.

But he added: “Instead this leader of the opposition, a former director of public prosecution – who used his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, as far as I can see – he chose to use this moment to continually pre-judge a police inquiry.

“He has reached his conclusions about it. I am not going to reach any conclusions and he would be entirely wrong to do so.

“I have complete confidence in the police, I hope that they will be allowed simply to get on with their job and don’t propose to offer any more commentary about it and I don’t believe that he should either.”

Sir Keir reacted to Mr Johnson’s attempted smear with a stony glare.

Nazir Afzal, a former chief Crown prosecutor for the North West, responded to the PM’s claim about Sir Keir and Savile by branding it “a disgrace to parliament and office of prime minister”.

“Its not true. I was there. Keir Starmer had nothing to do with the decisions taken. On the contrary, He supported me in bringing 100s of child sex abusers to justice,” Mr Afzal said in a post on social media:.

In 2020, fact-checking charity Full Fact also looked into the claim that Sir Keir had stopped Savile being charged in 2009 – a claim which has also been perpetuated by far-right groups on social media.

Full Fact said that while Sir Keir was head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) when the decision not to prosecute Savile was made on the grounds of “insufficient evidence”, he was not central to the decision.

“The allegations against Savile were dealt with by local police and a reviewing lawyer for the CPS,” the charity said.

“A later investigation criticised the actions of both the CPS and the police in their handling of the situation.

“It did not suggest that Mr Starmer was personally involved in the decisions made.”

The independent fact-checking organisation concluded: “Mr Starmer was head of the CPS when the decision was made not to prosecute Savile but he was not the reviewing lawyer for the case.

“An official investigation commissioned later by Starmer criticised both prosecutors and police for their handling of the allegations.”

The comments also provoked anger in Mr Johnson’s own party. A senior Tory MP told The Independent that they were "deeply disappointed and disgusted" that Mr Johnson repeated a slur against Mr Starmer regarding the Saville case.

Savile died in 2011 aged 84 having never been brought to justice for his litany of sex crimes. The entertainer is now believed to be one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders.

A 2016 report into his abuse found staff at the BBC missed numerous opportunities to stop him.