MPs blame Boris Johnson's 'poison' after protesters mob Keir Starmer
Source: The Guardian
MPs blame Boris Johnson’s ‘poison’ after protesters mob Keir Starmer
Police rescue Labour leader from anti-vaxxers shouting ‘traitor’ and ‘Jimmy Savile’ days after PM’s smear of Starmer in parliament
Jessica Elgot and Rowena Mason
Mon 7 Feb 2022 18.53 GMT
MPs from all sides angrily rounded on Boris Johnson and accused him of whipping up political poison after the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, was set upon by protesters who accused him of protecting the paedophile Jimmy Savile.
Johnson provoked widespread fury last week when he suggested Starmer had protected Savile during his time as director of public prosecutions. The comments drew criticism from two former Tory chief whips and prompted the resignation of a long-serving aide.
On Monday, Starmer and the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, had to be bundled into a police car after anti-vax protesters surrounded him near parliament with shouts of “traitor” and “Jimmy Savile”. One witness said a protester carried a hangman’s noose prop, which another protester had joked was for Starmer.
Lammy said it was “no surprise the conspiracy theorist thugs who harassed Keir Starmer and I repeated slurs we heard from Boris Johnson last week at the dispatch box. Intimidation, harassment and lies have no place in our democracy. And they won’t ever stop me doing my job.”
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/07/police-rescue-keir-starmer-after-protesters-surround-him-near-parliament
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Last week: Far right celebrates after Johnson repeats ‘Savile slur’ in parliament (The Observer)
