Richard Littlejohn's Jimmy Savile comments provoke outrage from abuse victims' charity

'Trust Labour with the economy and the NHS? I'd rather have trusted Jimmy Savile to babysit,' he wrote in the Daily Mail

Richard Littlejohn's use of Jimmy Savile in a political comment piece has sparked outrage (Getty Images)

Richard Littlejohn’s assertion that he would “rather trust Jimmy Savile to babysit” than Labour with the economy has sparked outrage and horrified victims’ charities.

The controversial Daily Mail columnist made the comparison in an article today that called Ed Miliband an “extra-terrestrial Marxoid geek”, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon an “Angela Merkel wannabe” and the leader of Plaid Cymru a “dopey bird”.

Mr Littlejohn wrote: “Trust Labour with the economy and the NHS? I'd rather have trusted Jimmy Savile to babysit.

"And that's before we even get to the SNP terror...by Friday night, we could find ourselves being governed by a socialist Prime Minister who lost the General Election, propped up by a gang of Stalinist separatists who have secured only four per cent of the total UK vote."

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Mr Littlejohn went on to say that he would vote for Nigel Farage if he lived in Thanet and would support Ukip in the North.

His name trended on Twitter as the article spread this morning, with readers calling it a “new low” for the writer, who has been the subject of numerous controversies leading to calls for his dismissal in the past.

Labour supporters swiftly hit back, with an article calling the column “the sickest propaganda yet” on LabourList.

Gabrielle Shaw, CEO of the National Association for People Abuse in Childhood (Napac) warned of the impact Mr Littlejohn’s comment could have on abuse victims.

“What may seem to one person to be a throwaway, joke comment, can act as a real trigger to survivors and not just people abused by Jimmy Savile,” she added.

“It could hit them with the force of a physical blow and it brings it all back again…it’s tasteless and insensitive at best but it could do real damage.

“I do feel for the survivors who could be affected by this.”

Richard Littlejohn's piece has provoked outrage (Lizzie Dearden)

Ms Shaw said that calls to Napac’s helpline spike when Savile and other child abuse cases are in the news.

The charity gets “a lot of calls” from the late DJ’s victims, she said, including some who have chosen not to go to the police.

A report into how Savile and fellow presenter Stuart Hall carried out abuse while working at the BBC has been completed but not yet released at the request of police.

A separate investigation into abuse at NHS institutions found Savile preyed on 63 people connected to Stoke Mandeville Hospital and many more children as young as five at other hospitals, mental health units and a hospice.

Here is what Twitter thought of Mr Littlejohn's piece...

Mr Littlejohn has previously asked what was "the point" of posthumous investigations into Savile's abuse, saying it was "too late to bring him to justice".