Jo Cox sister criticises PM over Sir Keir comments
Boris Johnson is under pressure to apologise, after the Labour leader was mobbed by protesters in Westminster
The sister of murdered MP Jo Cox has criticised Boris Johnson for comments he made about Sir Keir Starmer.
It's after the Labour leader was targeted by protesters near Parliament, some repeating false claims made by the Prime Minister, who accused Sir Keir of failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
Mr. Johnson is now facing calls to apologise from some of his own MPs, and has been criticised by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
The PM condemned the protesters in a tweet.
"Is this the kind of politics we want?"
Speaking on Tuesday, Kim Leadbeater called on the Prime Minister to show "leadership", and "reset the political tone".
The Batley and Spen MP, who now sits in the seat once held by her sister, admitted it was "hard" to see videos of Sir Keir Starmer and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy mobbed by protesters.
Leadbeater said: "there's a lot of anger out there at the moment, and I think as politicians, we have a responsibility to make that situation better, not worse.
"We have to accept that, at the minute, the Prime Minister is not making it better. That's what leads to scenes like that."
Conservatives call on the PM to apologise
At least six Conservatives, including a former Cabinet minister, joined MPs from across the political spectrum in linking the harassment to the baseless claim which Mr Johnson made while under pressure over the partygate scandal.
Earlier, technology minister Chris Philp said Mr Johnson could not be held responsible for the "unacceptable" actions of the demonstrators.
"They did mention Jimmy Savile. They also mentioned Julian Assange repeatedly, they mentioned Covid, they also mentioned the opposition more generally," he told Sky News.
"I don't think you can point to what the Prime Minister said as the cause of that. You certainly can't blame him for the fact that that mob were clearly behaving in a totally unacceptable way.
"You certainly can't say that what he said in any way prompted, provoked or justified the harassment and intimidation we saw last night."
Last week Mr Johnson falsely claimed Sir Keir "used his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile" while Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Julian Smith, who previously served as Mr Johnson's Northern Ireland secretary, tweeted: "What happened to Keir Starmer tonight outside parliament is appalling.
Two people arrested
Officers stepped in to protect the opposition leader as the group, some protesting against Covid measures, followed him from outside Scotland Yard.
On at least two videos posted to social media, a man and a woman were heard shouting about Savile to the Labour leader, as he walked with shadow foreign secretary David Lammy.
Scotland Yard said two people were arrested on suspicion of assault after a traffic cone was thrown at a police officer during the unrest.
Mr Lammy said it was "no surprise the conspiracy theorist thugs who harassed" Sir Keir and himself had "repeated" Mr Johnson's slurs.
Sir Keir apologised while director of public prosecutions in 2013 for the CPS having failed to bring Savile to justice four years earlier.
There is, however, no evidence that Sir Keir had any personal role in the failure to prosecute the man who was one of Britain's most egregious sex offenders before his death in 2011.