Boris Johnson criticised by Speaker for Jimmy Savile jibe at Keir Starmer

Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has criticised Boris Johnson for claiming that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer “failed to prosecute” Jimmy Savile.

The Speaker told MPs that the Prime Minister’s comments on Monday were not “disorderly,” but they would “inflame opinions and generate disregard for the House”.

Johnson made the allegation as he delivered a statement to the Commons on the Sue Gray report into lockdown parties in Downing Street. 

The Tory leader lashed out at Starmer’s record as Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales, saying: “he spent most of his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, as far as I can make out.”

While the Labour leader was in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service when it decided not to prosecute Savile in 2009 due to insufficient evidence, he was never personally involved in the decision.

However, the rumour that he effectively looked the other way over the broadcaster’s horrific crimes has been a conspiracy shared on the darker corners of the internet for a number of years. 

Four allegations of sexual assault by Savile in the 1970s were made to Surrey and Sussex Police in 2007 and 2008.

He was interviewed under caution by Surrey Police in October 2009 but no arrest was made.

The true extent of Savile's crimes didn't emerge until after his death in 2011, following an ITV documentary, which revealed that he had been for many years, a prolific sex offender and paedophile who had used his TV work, his fundraising and connections in the media and police to cover up his crimes. 

In 2012, Starmer appointed his Principal Legal Advisor, Alison Levitt QC, to examine the decisions made by the CPS.

Her report found that in October 2009, the CPS lawyer responsible for the cases advised that no prosecution could be brought on the grounds that none of the complainants were “prepared to support any police action”.

Levitt said she found nothing to suggest decisions not to prosecute were “consciously influenced by any improper motive on the part of either police or prosecutors”.

She also that Savile might have been prosecuted if the police and prosecutors took a different approach.

Starmer subsequently criticised the handling of the allegations by police and prosecutors in his 2013 statement on the report. He also apologised for “shortcomings in the part played by the CPS in these cases” and said he hoped it would be a “watershed moment” for the handling of such complaints.

In the Commons on Tuesday, Labour MP Christian Matheson raised Johnson’s comments about Savile. 

Matheson said: “I think it was found he was factually wrong on that. There are many, many victims of that awful awful person, and for him to use that scandal and that tragedy the way he did, I felt was inappropriate, tasteless, and perhaps out of order.”

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, responding to the point of order, told MPs: “I am not responsible for members’ contributions and will seek not to intervene unless something is said which is disorderly.

“Procedurally nothing disorderly occurred but such allegations should not be made lightly, especially in view of the guidance of Erskine May about good temper, moderation being the characteristics of parliamentary debate.

“While they may not have been disorderly, I am far from satisfied that the comments in question were appropriate on this occasion.

“I want to see more compassionate, reasonable politics in this House and the sort of comment can only inflame opinions and generate disregard for this House.

“I’ve got to say I want a nicer Parliament, the only way we can get a nicer Parliament is being more honourable in the debates we have. Please, let us show each other respect as well as tolerance going forward.”

Asked about the remark, Starmer told ITV ’s Good Morning Britain: “It’s a slur, it’s untrue, it’s desperate from the Prime Minister.

“I was really struck yesterday in the House at how many Conservative MPs were disgusted at that untruth from the despatch box.

“Of course on our side, people were disgusted. But his own MPs couldn’t believe their Prime Minister had stooped that low.

“He’s degraded the whole office. And this is how he operates. He drags everybody into the gutter with him.

“Everybody he touches, everybody that comes into contact with him is contaminated by this Prime Minister.”

Meanwhile, justice secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme that he couldn’t substantiate the Prime Minister’s comments and refused to repeat them outside of parliament. He said it was "the cut and thrust of parliamentary debates and exchanges".

When asked about the comments during a briefing with journalists, Johnson’s official spokesman said: "The Prime Minister stands by what he said in the House."

He also refused to repeat the claim, saying doing so would mean he would breach the principle of civil service impartiality.