BoJo Bashed by Tory MPs as Keir Starmer Ambushed by Angry Mob Over Jimmy Savile Claims

© REUTERS / HENRY NICHOLLSBritish Labour Party leader Keir Starmer leaves the BBC Headquarters in London, Britain, January 16, 2022
British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer leaves the BBC Headquarters in London, Britain, January 16, 2022 - Sputnik International, 1920, 08.02.2022
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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been criticised over the last week for accusing Keir Starmer of not taking action against the now-late sex offender Jimmy Savile when the Labour leader served as head of the Crown Prosecution Service. The PM then retracted his statement but stopped short of apologising.
Two people have been arrested after anti-lockdown protesters mobbed UK Labour leader Keir Starmer and Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Monday as they left the Houses of Parliament in London, with many shouting "traitor", "Jimmy Savile", and slamming Starmer's record on COVID.
Videos posted on social media showed the two being escorted into a waiting police car on Victoria Embankment as protesters could be heard criticising the Labour leader for supporting COVID vaccinations and not "opposing the government".
© Photo : Twitter/@HackneyAbbottTwitter screenshot
Twitter screenshot - Sputnik International, 1920, 08.02.2022
Twitter screenshot

One person was heard shouting, "Do you enjoy working for the new world order?"

Police said in a statement that a man and a woman had been arrested after a traffic cone was thrown at officers and that Starmer and Lammy were "taken away from the scene by a police car".
Lammy said it was "no surprise the conspiracy theorist thugs who harassed Keir Starmer and I repeated slurs we heard from Boris Johnson last week at the dispatch box. Intimidation, harassment, and lies have no place in our democracy. And they won't ever stop me doing my job".
The shadow foreign secretary was referring to an incident last Monday, when during a regular Q&A in parliament Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Starmer exchanged remarks about the "partygate" scandal concerning a series of alleged COVID rule-breaking Downing Street parties held between 2020 and 2021.
After Starmer repeatedly called on MPs to oust Johnson, the prime minister responded by accusing Starmer of "failing to prosecute" the now-late paedophile, sexual predator, and TV personality Jimmy Savile while the Labour leader was Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.
Johnson then clarified his remarks by saying that he had been "talking not about the leader of the opposition's personal record when he was director of public prosecutions", and that he totally understands that Starmer "had nothing to do personally with those decisions". The PM, however, did not apologise for his remarks, which then prompted Johnson's head of policy Munira Mirza to step down.
Commenting on the 7 February incident with Starmer, the UK prime minister stressed that the behaviour "directed at the leader of the opposition tonight is absolutely disgraceful" but again stopped short of apologising for his previous remarks.

"All forms of harassment of our elected representatives are completely unacceptable. I thank the police for responding swiftly", Johnson added.

Former Chief Whip Julian Smith, for his part, tweeted that "what happened to Keir Starmer outside parliament is appalling" and that "it is really important for our democracy and his security that the false Savile slurs against him are withdrawn in full".
© Photo : Twitter/@JulianSmithUKTwitter screenshot
Twitter screenshot - Sputnik International, 1920, 08.02.2022
Twitter screenshot
Tory MPs Roger Gale, Anthony Mangnall, and Tobias Ellwood, who earlier sent letters of no confidence in Johnson over the "partygate" scandal, called on the UK prime minister to extend his apologies to Starmer, while Conservative lawmaker Rob Largan pointed out that the time has come to defuse the situation.

"Words matter. What we say and how we say it echoes out far beyond parliament. It can have serious real world consequences. Elected representatives have a responsibility to lower the temperature of debate, not add fuel to the fire", he noted.

David Lidington, a former senior Tory MP and cabinet minister, told the BBC that he was completely appalled by Monday's incident with Starmer, adding that "no politician in the United Kingdom or any other democracy should expect to be treated in that way".

When asked whether Johnson was responsible for the incident, David said the PM "did not intend his comments in the House of Commons to have the impact we saw tonight, but there is no doubt the mob were reflecting in their abuse the link between Keir Starmer and the decision not to prosecute Jimmy Savile that the prime minister made".

The ex-senior Tory whip urged Johnson to "retract and apologise", saying that he hopes "the prime minister will now do that".
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Chris Philip, has meanwhile, argued that Johnson's remarks concerning Jimmy Savile cannot be interpreted as intimidation of Keir Starmer.
"I don't think you can point to what the prime minister said as the cause of that - you certainly can't blame him. I don't think it in any way justified or provoked or incited the terrible and totally unacceptable harassment and intimidation of the leader of the opposition", Philip told Sky News.

BoJo in 'Danger Zone'

Boris Johnson refused to step down after last week's release of senior civil servant Sue Gray's report which found evidence of "excessive consumption of alcohol" at Number 10 during the COVID lockdown parties there in 2020 and 2021, also asserting that some Whitehall social gatherings amounted to "serious failings", which are "difficult to justify".
In a separate development, the British newspaper i reported that more than 100 Conservative MPs will be ready to turn against Johnson if a no-confidence vote against him is finally triggered. The report came amid speculation that at least 35 Tory MP letters have already been submitted to the chair of the Conservatives' 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, as the PM enters the "danger zone" close to the 54 letters required to trigger a no-confidence vote.
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