Boris Johnson has been branded a “disgrace” after he accused Keir Starmer of failing to prosecute entertainer Jimmy Savile.
The British prime minister’s suggestion that the Labour leader failed to prosecute Savile has been described as “not true” by a former chief prosecutor and is also contrary to the findings of an independent fact-checking organisation.
Mr Johnson made the comments in the British House of Commons as he hit back at Labour criticism over the Sue Gray report.
Reference to Jimmy Savile by Boris Johnson was a disgrace to Parliament & 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 #SueGrayReport— nazir afzal (@nazirafzal) January 31, 2022
Advertisement
The British prime minister said: “The report does absolutely nothing to substantiate the tissue of nonsense that he has said. Absolute nonsense.
“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.”
Nazir Afzal, a former chief Crown prosecutor for the North West, responded to Mr Johnson’s comments by saying that the reference made to Savile by Mr Johnson was “a disgrace to Parliament & office of Prime Minister”.
He wrote on Twitter: “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.”
In 2020, fact checking charity Full Fact looked into the claim that Mr Starmer had stopped Savile being charged in 2009.
Full Fact said Mr Starmer was head of the British Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) when the decision not to prosecute Savile was made on the grounds of “insufficient evidence”, adding: “The allegations against Savile were dealt with by local police and a reviewing lawyer for the CPS.
“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.”
Savile died in 2011 aged 84 having never been brought to justice for his crimes.
He 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.
