As ever, what really exposes Keir Starmer and his Ministers is their hypocrisy.
The allegation peddled and then repeated by Science Secretary Peter Kyle that Nigel Farage is ‘on the side’ of Jimmy Savile through his opposition to the Online Safety Act is obviously shameful in itself.
It’s also politically illiterate, given growing concern across the political spectrum over Government overreach into the areas of free speech and public protest in general. And the impact of the new legislation on legitimate social media use in particular.
But what’s most staggering – and revealing – is their decision to specifically reach for a smear focusing on Britain’s most notorious paedophile given that, only three years ago, they were thrown into self-righteous apoplexy when Boris Johnson dared to raise Savile in relation to Sir Keir’s supposedly storied time as Director of Public Prosecutions.
In the January 2022 debate on Sue Gray‘s report into the Partygate scandal, the former Prime Minister infamously claimed ‘he [Starmer] spent most of his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, as far as I can make out’. In response, the then Leader of the Opposition claimed the allusion to Savile placed Johnson in the company of ‘fascists’, and made him guilty of attempting to score ‘cheap political points’. It was, he said, ‘time to restore some dignity’ to politics.
A few days later, Starmer and his Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy were surrounded by a mob in the street, some of whom were chanting Savile’s name. At which point Labour‘s outrage and indignation soared completely off the gauge.
‘It’s no surprise the conspiracy theorist thugs who harassed Keir Starmer and I repeated slurs we heard from Boris Johnson last week at the despatch box,’ Lammy fumed. Shadow Minister Chris Bryant raged: ‘This is what happens when a prime minister descends into the gutter and recycles lies from hard-right conspiracy theorists. Political poison has an effect. Johnson has no moral compass.’
Now, however, it’s Keir Starmer and his colleagues who are injecting the poison into the body politic. Setting their own moral compass, again, whirring aimlessly. There are some important differences between Johnson’s and Kyle’s comments. But none of them align to the Government’s credit.
Labour were thrown into self-righteous apoplexy when Boris Johnson dared to raise Jimmy Savile in relation to Sir Keir’s supposedly storied time as Director of Public Prosecutions, writes Dan Hodges
Peter Kyle, left, told Sky News that Nigel Farage’s opposition to the Online Safety Act means Farage would have been on Savile’s side
Savile was one of Britain’s most notorious paedophiles and abused hundreds of children throughout his career
Clumsy though the former Prime Minister’s charge was, there were legitimate questions to be asked of Starmer’s role in the Savile saga, especially given his habit of claiming credit for every success secured by the DPP on his watch. They are questions which, to this day, have still not been satisfactorily answered. His assertion he had no knowledge of – never mind role in – such a high-profile charging decision stretched credibility to breaking point.
Johnson’s accusation that the CPS allowed a notorious child-abuser to slip through their fingers whilst Keir Starmer was in overall charge of their operations was based on fact. As evidenced by his apology at that time for his organisation’s failings.
But the attempt to link Nigel Farage to Savile doesn’t event amount to guilt by association. It is nothing less than base, unevidenced slander.
And I doubt it’s an accident. Peter Kyle may not be a household name even in his own household. But he is one of Keir Starmer’s most effective media performers, and is spoken about by his colleagues as a potential future Prime Minister. So his comments cannot be taken as blunder, or a freelancing exercise.
When I asked a No 10 aide if they endorsed Kyle’s comments I was told emphatically: ‘We’re standing by Peter and what he said. Farage isn’t serious about online protection. He hasn’t got any answers.’ So the comments were a sanctioned hit on Reform’s leader by Sir Keir himself. Which tells its own story.
Yes, it’s a further indication of the extent to which Nigel Farage has taken up gratis residence in Starmer’s subconscious. This was a week in which the Prime Minister had the opportunity to completely dominate the optics and agenda, as he lounged in statesmanlike splendour aboard Air Force One and swapped anecdotes and golf-tips with President Donald Trump. But he has again swung the political spotlight back on the man who is fast becoming his political nemesis.
And again, he has betrayed his basic lack of political competence. If that was the plan, there were ways of driving a wedge between Nigel Farage and the public in relation to online safety. Stick with accusing him of playing into the hands of pornographers. Accuse him of being in the pockets of the social media giants. If a pithy soundbite was required, put out a press release claiming ‘Nigel Farage is getting into bed with Bonnie Blue’.
But the name Jimmy Savile is political Kryptonite for Keir Starmer. And the fact it was allowed to leave the lips of one of his own Ministers beggars belief.
By reaching for the Savile slur, Starmer has also broken one of the basic rules of attack politics. Which is that, if you want to try and smear an opponent, the smear has to at least have some basic public resonance. It must, in some small way, match existing perceptions of your target.
People have many different perceptions of Nigel Farage and Reform. But the accusation that he and his party are instinctively soft on criminals in general, and paedophiles in particular, lacks even the most minimal credibility.
Over the past month I’ve been critical of Keir Starmer for failing to grasp the true character of the country he aspires to govern. But the lowbrow assault on Nigel Farage reveals something else. It isn’t just that Keir Starmer cannot properly see or understand the British people. It’s that he doesn’t properly understand how the British people see him.
Sir Keir’s vow to introduce a new, more honourable brand of politics was a key component of his much vaunted promise of ‘change’. In fact, for the years immediately preceding the election – when his cautious Ming Vase Strategy seemingly precluded him from revealing any substantive policy proposals – it was just about the only component.
Yet he seems to think the voters are suffering from collective amnesia. That they have forgotten when he referred to attempts to lash him to Jimmy Savile and his vile crimes as a ‘slur’, and an attempt to ‘try and drag everyone into the gutter’. That he specifically pledged to ‘restore some dignity’ to politics in the wake of the row. The he grandiosely claimed ‘to change Britain, we must change ourselves – we need to clean up politics’.
But the public have not forgotten. And they can see clearly what the Prime Minister appears to be blind to: When the pressure was on, and the polls began to turn, all those promises about the ‘new politics’ were unceremoniously jettisoned. To swiftly be replaced by the old fashioned politics of slur and slander.
Fine. Politics is a contact sport. But Keir Starmer has now positioned the bar. And it is lying in the gutter.
Jimmy Savile smears are the benchmark the Prime Minister himself has now set. He has shown he is happy to dish it out. So in the weeks, months and years to come, he had better be prepared to show he can take it.
