Boris Johnson has doubled down on his discredited claim that Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
Speaking during PMQs on Wednesday, Starmer accused the prime minister of peddling the “conspiracy theories of violent fascists”.
The Labour leader said Johnson should behave with more “dignity” than to repeat the allegation.
But the prime minister did not withdraw the comment and instead stood by it.
“I am told that in 2013, he apologised and took full responsibility for what had happened on his watch,” Johnson said.“I think that was the right thing to do.”
During a heated Commons debate over the Sue Gray report into Downing Street parties on Monday, Johnson said when Starmer was director of public prosecutions he had spent his time “failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile”.
It led to widespread condemnation, including from lawyers representing many of Savile’s victims.
Senior Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, who has called for Johnson to resign over the partygate allegations, said the “false allegation” should be withdrawn.
“Who advised the prime minister to say this? We’re better than this, we must seek to improve our standards and rise above where we are today,” he told Sky News.
Starmer told Conservative MPs today: “I just want to say to the members opposite, theirs is the party of Winston Churchill.
“Our parties stood together as we defeated fascism in Europe. Now their leader stands in the House of Commons parroting the conspiracy theories of violent fascists to try and score cheap political points.
“He knows exactly what he is doing, it is time to restore some dignity.”
In 2020, fact-checking website Full Fact looked into the claim that Starmer had stopped Savile being charged in 2009.
It said Starmer was head of the CPS when the decision not to prosecute was made on the grounds of “insufficient evidence”, adding: “The allegations against Savile were dealt with by local police and a reviewing lawyer for the CPS.
“A later investigation criticised the actions of both the CPS and the police in their handling of the situation.
“It did not suggest that Starmer was personally involved in the decisions made.”
Savile – who is now thought to have been one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders – died in 2011 aged 84, having never been brought to justice for his crimes.