Boris Johnson has backed down on his widely criticised and debunked claim that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
The British prime minister said he wanted to “clarify” his remarks because a lot of people “got very hot under the collar” amid anger from his own MPs and lawyers representing Savile victims.
Mr Johnson, in an interview on Thursday, claimed he had not been talking about Mr Starmer's “personal record” when he was director of public prosecutions (DPP).
But Mr Johnson clearly accused the Labour leader of having “used his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile” on Monday as he came under pressure in the British House of Commons over alleged lockdown breaches in Number 10.
Speaking to broadcasters in Blackpool, the prime minister said: “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.”
His retreat over the remarks came after UK cabinet ministers were sent out to defend Mr Johnson’s deployment of the conspiracy theory said to have been spread by supporters of the far-right.
The prime minister had been refusing to withdraw the claim, and maintained his stance in an interview with the Sun by saying the slur was “fairly accurate”.
During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, he went on to point to the fact that Mr Starmer apologised while DPP in 2013 for the CPS having failed to bring Savile to justice four years earlier.
But there is no evidence that Mr Starmer had any personal role in the failure to prosecute the man who was one of Britain’s most egregious sex offenders before his death in 2011.
The Labour leader accused Mr Johnson of “parroting the conspiracy theories of violent fascists to try to score cheap political points”.
Tory critics of Mr Johnson deploying the falsehood while his leadership is imperilled included former minister Tobias Ellwood and senior MPs Simon Hoare and Sir Charles Walker.
Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon compared Mr Johnson to former US president Donald Trump spreading “fake news”.
UK Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle also rebuked Mr Johnson, saying he was “far from satisfied that the comments in question were appropriate on this occasion”.
Lawyer Richard Scorer, who represented many of Savile’s victims, had said: “Victims of Savile I represented and have spoken with today are all disgusted by Boris Johnson’s comments.
“They’ve told me they want him to withdraw them and apologise. I urge Johnson to do that right away.
“Weaponising their suffering to get out of a political hole is disgraceful.”
