BORIS Johnson has caved to mounting outrage and retracted comments he made linking Jimmy Savile to Labour leader Keir Starmer.
It follows the Tory leader having doubled-down on the claim first made in the House of Commons that Starmer had spent his time at the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) “prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile”.
The Labour leader accused Johnson of “parroting the conspiracy theories of violent fascists to try to score cheap political points”.
The Prime Minister saw multiple members of his Cabinet lend credence to the disproven slur which started on far-right Facebook groups.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer, Jimmy Savile, and the Tories' 'move towards disinformation'
The UK Government was warned against spreading such disinformation by MPs from Labour, the SNP, and the Tory Party itself, but ministers refused to contradict the Prime Minister’s line.
Now Johnson has retracted the attack line himself, saying he had not meant to talk about Starmer’s “personal record”.
However, the Prime Minister's climbdown reportedly did not come quick enough or go far enough for Munira Mirza, one of his most trusted advisers, who has handed in her resignation over the affair.
Dominic Cummings, the former No 10 chief aide, said it would be the start of a "mad scramble" away from Johnson.
During a visit to Blackpool, the Prime Minister told journalists: “I want to be very clear about this because a lot of people have got very hot under the collar, and I understand why.
“Let’s be absolutely clear, I’m talking not about the Leader of the Opposition’s personal record when he was DPP [director of public prosecutions] and I totally understand that he had nothing to do personally with those decisions. I was making a point about his responsibility for the organisation as a whole.
“I really do want to clarify that because it is important.”
The climbdown comes after reports said the Savile slur had been seen as a bridge too far by many of the Tory backbenchers Johnson is desperate to keep onside to avoid a vote of no confidence in his leadership.
Munira Mirza (below), one of Johnson's most trusted advisers, reportedly resigned as the head of the No 10 policy unit over his use of the Savile line.
In a letter to the Prime Minister reported by the Spectator, Mirza wrote: “I believe it was wrong for you to imply this week that Keir Starmer was personally responsible for allowing Jimmy Savile to escape justice.
“There was no fair or reasonable basis for that assertion. This was not the usual cut and thrust of politics; it was an inappropriate and partisan reference to a horrendous case of child sex abuse.
“You tried to clarify your position today but, despite my urging, you did not apologise for the misleading impression you gave.”
The claim that the use of the Savile slur had been part of the "usual cut and thrust of politics" had been publicly made by both Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and Scottish Secretary Alister Jack.
Nicola Sturgeon had accused the Prime Minister of using “Trumpian fake news” to deflect from his own wrongdoings and try to mar the reputations of those around him.
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