BORIS Johnson is coming under growing pressure to apologise and fully retract untrue comments he made about Sir Keir Starmer.

It comes after the Labour leader and his shadow foreign secretary David Lammy were accosted last night by a crowd of angry protesters.

The crowd were heard shouting "traitor" and making reference to paedophile Jimmy Savile as they followed the Labour politicians outside the Houses of Parliament.

On at least two videos posted to social media, a man and a woman were heard shouting about Savile to the Labour leader, as he walked with shadow foreign secretary David Lammy.

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Police officers had to escort them into a nearby police car, while two people were subsequently arrested when a traffic cone was hurled at officers.

Condemnation of the incident has come from all sides of the political spectrum, with many politicians now calling on the Prime Minister to retract, in full, the untrue remarks he made about Sir Keir last week and apologise to him. 

Background

While the PM was being questioned about his own conduct, following the update on the Sue Gray inquiry into parties at Downign Street, Mr Johnson claimed that Sir Keir had "failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile" while he was director of public prosecutions for England and Wales.

This prompted criticism, and even the resignation of one of Mr Johnson's closest policy advisors, Munra Mirza, from Downing Street.

The Prime Minister later "clarified" his remarks, saying that he was not implying Sir Keir had personally not prosecuted the paedophile, but as head of the prosecution service he was ultimately responsible.

This has not been accepted by many politicians, yet Downing Street officials said today the Prime Minister will not be apologising or retracting the claims. 

Mr Lammy said it was “no surprise the conspiracy theorist thugs who harassed” Sir Keir and himself had “repeated” Mr Johnson’s slurs.

READ MORE: Senior Downing Street aide Munira Mirza quits over Johnson's Savile comments

Reaction to the incident

The sister of murdered MP Jo Cox said she found the scenes “really upsetting” but all Prime Minister Boris Johnson cares about is how to “save his skin”.

Kim Leadbeater, who is Labour MP for the same Batley and Spen seat her sister represented, said: “I found yesterday really upsetting, it made me really angry, and we have to look at why it happened.

“And I think, ultimately, the individuals who were part of that angry mob have to take personal responsibility, but we also have to be clear that things don’t happen in a vacuum."

The Herald: Kim Leadbeater called on the nation to reject ‘the hatred of extremists who seek to divide us’ (Jane Barlow/PA)

READ MORE: Two arrested after Keir Starmer ambushed by protesters outside Westminster

Ms Leadbeater told Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour: “Words and that culture filters down to other people and it really concerns me that we have got a Prime Minister who seems to be stoking the anger that people feel in the country at the moment and that can have real repercussions for society.”

She continued: “I think he wants to save his skin and he wants to make sure that he is still Prime Minister and, at the moment, it feels like that’s pretty much all he cares about. And I find that really sad."

Julian Smith, previously Mr Johnson’s Northern Ireland secretary, tweeted: “What happened to Keir Starmer tonight outside parliament is appalling.

“It is really important for our democracy & for his security that the false Savile slurs made against him are withdrawn in full.”

Former minister Stephen Hammond, one of the 15 Tory MPs to have publicly called for Mr Johnson to resign over alleged Covid breaches, said he agreed with Mr Smith, as did Robert Largan and Aaron Bell, who were elected in 2019.

The Herald: Sir Roger Gale

Senior Tory Sir Roger Gale urged Mr Johnson to make a Commons apology over the abuse which he feared could be the result of his “deliberately careless” Savile allegation.

“It has, I’m afraid, played into the hands of some rather unpleasant people,” the MP said.

“I think what he ought to do … is to go to the despatch box tomorrow to condemn the way Keir was treated and apologise.”

Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons Defence Committee, told the Prime Minister to “apologise please”.

“Let’s stop this drift towards a Trumpian style of politics from becoming the norm,” he added.

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Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the PM should "absolutely be ashamed of himself."

He said: "He knew exactly what he was doing by throwing that dead cat strategy around the Jimmy Savile trial.

“(There’s) no remorse at all, no thinking about the impact on the families impacted by that directly. It was deliberately targeted to create anger, to create a distraction, and to protect his own job."

Nicola Sturgeon said the if the Prime Minister “has any decency at all” he would say sorry for “choosing to weaponise online conspiracy theories against opponents”.

The First Minister tweeted: “Any politician choosing to weaponise online conspiracy theories against opponents knows fine well that they risk stirring up the kind of hate and abuse that Keir Starmer experienced today.

“If he has any decency at all, the PM will now apologise unreservedly." 

Defence of the PM

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said the abuse aimed at Sir Keir Starmer was “completely unacceptable” but insisted Boris Johnson’s comments were not to blame.

He told ITV that Mr Johnson made a “fair and reasonable point” that “somebody at the top of an organisation has responsibility for what happens in it”, in relation to Sir Keir’s former role as director of public prosecutions.

“That’s no excuse for people to behave the way they did last night and we shouldn’t give them that excuse either,” he added.

The Herald: SNP MPs grilled Tory MP Chris Philp in the House of Commons

Technology minister Chris Philp said Boris Johnson “clarified” controversial comments he made about the supposed involvement of Sir Keir Starmer when he was director of public prosecutions in the case of Jimmy Savile.

Mr Philp told BBC Breakfast: “The first comments in the House on the previous Monday were capable of being misconstrued and that is why it is important and right that a couple of days later that Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, did clarify that he was not suggesting at any time that Keir Starmer had personal responsibility for the case. But he obviously did have responsibility for the conduct of the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service).

“I don’t think there is any way you can reasonably suggest that the comments on Keir Starmer’s overall responsibility for the CPS in any way provoked the very unseemly and totally unacceptable harassment we saw last night.”