Nearly seven in 10 voters blame Boris Johnson for a mob targeting Keir Starmer outside Parliament, according to a new poll.
The Savanta ComRes survey also found that more than two-thirds of the public believe the prime minister should apologise to the Labour leader for wrongly claiming that he failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile when he was Director of Public Prosecutions.
Starmer and shadow justice secretary David Lammy were ambushed near Parliament on Monday evening, with some protesters heard shouting about Savile and calling the Labour leader a “paedophile protector”.
Johnson has condemned the incident - but rejected calls from MPs, including many in his own party, for him to apologise.
According to the poll, 69 per cent of the public believe Johnson’s comments, which he made in the Commons following the publication of Sue Gray’s report into partygate, were to blame for the attack.
Meanwhile, 68 per cent of those polled said that the PM should publicly apologise to Starmer.
Elsewhere, the poll also found that 64 per cent of voters believe politics has got nastier in the last five years.
Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta ComRes said: “The Prime Minister’s comments have been widely condemned and it is the view of the public that such comments directly lead to the unsavoury behaviour Starmer and David Lammy had to experience yesterday.
“The public also hold the view that politics has gotten nastier in the last five years, and given the tragic circumstances in which a Member of Parliament lost their life last year, the condemnation from the public and his own party that Boris Johnson is facing seems entirely justified.”
Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle became the latest senior figure to criticise the PM when he said that “words have consequences” as he condemned the intimidation of Starmer.
Johnson has subsequently “clarified” his comments and said he does not hold Starmer personally responsible for Savile escaping justice.
He also issued a tweet on Monday night condemning the incident outside Parliament and praising the police for protecting the Labour MPs.
However, Downing Street has made clear the prime minister will not apologise
A source told HuffPost UK: “His tweet last night made it clear he condemns the mob.
“The fact is that Starmer himself apologised for what happened on his watch in 2013.”