Summary
- Some Tory MPs are asking Boris Johnson to apologise over his false claim that Labour leader Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile
- But Downing Street says it has no intention of apologising for the prime minister’s remarks in the Commons last week
- Starmer was bundled into a police car outside Parliament on Monday as he faced baseless allegations from protesters of “protecting paedophiles”
- At least six Tory MPs have linked the incident to the PM’s comments
- Johnson has tweeted that the behaviour directed at the Labour leader was “absolutely disgraceful”
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Kim Leadbeater, the sister of murdered MP Jo Cox, says she is “incredibly angry” about protesters targeting the Labour leader and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, who was with Sir Keir at the time of the incident on Monday afternoon.
“These things don’t just happen. Words have consequences, leaders have a duty to behave responsibly & politics is not a game,” the Labour MP for Batley and Spen wrote on Twitter
In a pointed criticism of PM Boris Johnson, she concludes: “Our country deserves far better.
Minister doesn’t think PM’s comments provoked protest.
Technology minister Chris Philp has been speaking about the incident involving the Labour leader on BBC Breakfast.
He says Boris Johnson has “clarified” controversial comments he made about Keir Starmer and Jimmy Savile.
Philp says a few days after the PM spoke in Parliament, Johnson told reporters “he was not suggesting at any time that Keir Starmer had personal responsibility for the [Savile] case. But he obviously did have responsibility for the conduct of the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service)”.
But he says he doesn’t think the PM’s comments “in any way provoked the very unseemly and totally unacceptable harassment we saw last night”.
Angry protesters ‘just politics’, says ex-security adviser
The police officer who set up the team responsible for MP security following the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox says there are “distinct differences” between the recent fatal attacks on MPs, such as Ms Cox and Sir David Amess, and Monday’s incident in Westminster.
Philip Grindell said the images of a band of protesters surrounding Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer “look a lot worse than they are – in terms of a threat perspective”.
Grindell said “99.9% of the time” MPs in the UK were able to continue in public life “and no-one knows they are there”.
He described attacks such as the fatal stabbing of Sir David last October, as “predatory, targeted attacks”.
In comparison, he called Monday’s mobbing of Starmer “impulsive violence”. “The two are very different.”
He told the updatedmail freedom of speech was “an important value”.
Protesters “shouting and expressing themselves, however aggressively”, are not committing an offence – “that’s just politics”, he added.
What are the papers saying?
Papers say Many papers lead on calls for Boris Johnson to apologise for comments made about Sir Keir Starmer, after protesters targeted the Labour leader outside Parliament.
The Times says six Conservatives are among MPs who linked the incident to the PM’s false claim, in the Commons last week, that the Labour leader failed to prosecute serial sex offender Jimmy Savile.
“This is why words matter… this is why truth matters,” says the Mirror.
A Labour source tells the Guardian that Johnson “and his cabinet chose to lie down with dogs, and now the whole lot of them are covered in fleas”.
In an editorial, the Express describes the protesters as “dangerous fools” who should be “taken to task for this affront to our democracy”.
The i headlines with: “Police rescue Starmer from mob – as PM faces crunch 48 hours.” The paper says Tory MPs have been told they can stay away from Parliament until Thursday when the Commons begins a 10-day recess.
The paper says Johnson believes he will get a fresh chance to reset his premiership if he manages to avoid a confidence vote before the recess.
