Inside Politics: Savile row reignites as Starmer accosted by baying mob

Conspiracy theorists confront Labour leader in Westminster and hurl Savile slurs at him a week after Johnson’s Commons comments, writes Matt Mathers

Tuesday 08 February 2022 09:04 GMT

(PA)

There were more dark and ugly scenes at Westminster last night after a baying mob of conspiracy theorists accosted Keir Starmer, some of whom shouted Jimmy Savile slurs at the Labour leader – just a week after Boris Johnson launched his unsavoury and unfounded attack on him at the Commons dispatch box. The prime minister’s refusal to apologise and retract the remarks in full resulted in the resignation of a top aide, sending his chaotic Downing Street operation into meltdown. And the distasteful words are now coming back to haunt him again as his own MPs repeat calls for an apology and Labour accuses him of inciting the mob that attacked Starmer. It is a nightmare start for new Downing Street spinner Guto Harri (more on that below) and a huge spanner in the works for Johnson’s broader attempts to hit the reset button in No 10. Elsewhere, the PM says he’s not worried about Rishi Sunak’s loyalty amid reports that the chancellor blocked plans to clear the NHS backlog and the UK is sending troops to Poland amid the threat of Russia invading Ukraine.

Inside the bubble

Chief politics commentator John Rentoul on what to look out for:

After the regular Tuesday cabinet meeting, the Commons starts with justice questions at 11.30am. In select committees, the Beis committee has a hearing on energy bills; Defence discusses Ukraine; and Conor Burns, Northern Ireland minister gives evidence to his departmental committee. Andrew Dilnot, who devised the original social care plan, is to speak at the Institute for Fiscal Studies at 2pm.

Coming up:

– Technology minister Chris Philp on ITV GMB at 8.30am

– Shadow mental health minister Rosena Allin Khan on Times Radio Breakfast at 8.35am

Daily Briefing

BAYING MOB: Police said two people were arrested after Starmer was hounded by the mob, apparently made up of Covid conspiracy nuts, who accused him of protecting Savile. Video footage shows the Labour leader being bundled into a police vehicle as protesters shouted “traitor” and “Jimmy Savile”, accusing him of “protecting paedophiles”. Not only does the incident raise more concerns about the safety of MPs in Westminster, but it also creates another major headache for Johnson politically. There was anger from MPs on all sides, with Labour accusing the PM of “poisoning” the well of debate in British politics and inciting the mob.

BLUE ON BLUE: But once again it is the attacks from his own side that will be most damaging for the PM, who faces yet another crunch week as he desperately tries to kick-start his beleaguered premiership. Former Tory chief whip Julian Smith lead calls for Johnson to apologise and fully retract the marks, saying it was important he did so for the sake of democracy and Starmer’s safety. Johnson has condemned the scenes outside parliament but is refusing to say sorry for his remarks last week. We’ll have reaction to this story and others on our liveblog.

CARRY ON HARRI: Critics of Johnson often accuse him of not being a serious leader for serious times and new No 10 spinner Guto Harri is apparently doing his best to perpetuate that view, after it emerged that he and the PM sang ‘I Will Survive’ last week when he asked Johnson if he was going to hang on in No 10. The exchange came to light following the publication of an interview Harri gave to the Welsh language website Golwg 360, in which he also said that Johnson is not “all that clownish”. Harri is one of a number of new faces being brought into No 10 as the PM attempts to convince some of his own MPs that he can change in a bid to see off a potential no confidence vote. Is this strategy likely to prove successful? Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick takes a look here. Meanwhile, Johnson was forced to deny a rift with his chancellor after the pair used a joint photo-opportunity to unveil only part of the NHS recovery plan, which had been expected on Monday but was reportedly delayed as a result of Treasury concerns over value for money.

‘TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE’: Northern Ireland’s Police Ombudsman has found “collusive behaviour” by police in 11 loyalist murders, including the 1992 attack at the Sean Graham betting shop in Belfast, in which five people were killed. A report by Marie Anderson also identified “significant” investigative and intelligence failures. She said it was “totally unacceptable” that police used informants within the Ulster Defence Association who were engaged in crimes such as murder. Police apologised for the “failings identified”. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns said “stable governance” is needed in the region as he called on the DUP to return to the powersharing executive after first minister Paul Givan resigned in protest at the Brexit protocol.

UKRAINE CRISIS LATEST: Defence secretary Ben Wallace says the UK will send 350 further troops to Poland in the “spirit of solidarity” as tensions build between Russia and Ukraine. In a press conference with Polish minister for national defence Mariusz Błaszczak, Mr Wallace confirmed that the UK would add to the 100 troops originally sent to Poland in November during Poland’s border crisis with Belarus.“In that spirit of solidarity and helping share each other’s challenges of resiliences we will add to those 100 Royal Engineers by sending a further 350 British troops to Poland in a bilateral deployment to show that we can work together and send a strong signal that Britain and Poland stand side by side,” he said. Poland welcomed the move.

PORN CLAMPDOWN: Websites that publish pornography will be legally required to verify the age of their users under new online safety rules, the government has announced. Marking Safer Internet Day, digital minister Chris Philp confirmed the draft Online Safety Bill is to be strengthened to require all sites which publish pornographic content to put “robust checks” in place to ensure users are 18 or over. Sites could use secure age verification technology to confirm a user possesses a credit card and is therefore at least 18, or use a third-party service to confirm someone’s age against government data.

On the record

“This is appalling. People were shouting all sorts at Keir, including ‘Jimmy Savile’. This is what happens when a prime minister descends into the gutter and recycles lies from hard-right conspiracy theorists. Political poison has an effect. Johnson has no moral compass.”

Labour MP Chris Bryant on Starmer getting mobbed.

From the Twitterati

“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.”