BORIS Johnson restated his claim Sir Keir Starmer failed to lock up Jimmy Savile when he was Britain’s top prosecutor.
The PM sparked uproar on Monday when he hammered the now Labour leader for failing to snare the prolific paedophile and sex offender when he was in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Starmer called it a slur, but the PM told Trending In The News last night: “As far I’m aware, it’s fairly accurate.”
But yesterday the PM’s own deputy cut him adrift over the row.
In an astonishing public split, Dominic Raab said he was “certainly not repeating” his boss’s claim.
But he defended it as the “cut and thrust” of Parliamentary debate.
Former minister Julian Smith called for the PM to “withdraw it”, adding: “False and baseless personal slurs are dangerous (and) corrode trust.”
And Leader of the House Lindsay Hoyle said the PM’s outburst and allegations “should not be made lightly”.
He told MPs: “I am far from satisfied that the comments in question were appropriate on this occasion.”
But a Tory source defended the PM’s attack, saying: “It’s simply a matter of fact that Starmer was running the CPS at the time they decided not to charge Savile.
“As leader of the organisation at the time, what action did he take against people who were personally responsible?”
Lawyers who represented the victims of Savile accused the PM of “weaponising” their horrific experiences.
Richard Scorer, of Slater and Gordon, said: “They have expressed upset and anger.”
