By Grimsby’s Tory MP calls PM’s Jimmy Savile jibe ‘appropriate’
Lia Nici, Great Grimsby’s Conservative MP, has defended the Prime Minister after he came under fire for accusing Keir Starmer of being responsible for Jimmy Savile escaping prosecution.
The PM made the jibe on Monday when he addressed the house following the publication of Sue Gray’s update into the partygate scandal – for which Boris Johnson is currently under investigation by the police for.
He told the House of Commons that Starmer “used his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile” whilst he was head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
We reported a factcheck on this claim yesterday, but in short, these allegations are unfounded, as Starmer was not the prosecuting officer and even called an investigation into why the case was not pursued.
Despite this, Lia Nici has stood by the PM, even when his government ministers potentially haven’t.
While Deputy PM Dominic Raab said he “could not substantiate the claim”, Ms Nici has said that she thought it “was appropriate”.
The first Tory MP for Grimsby since 1945, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I think it’s appropriate to question whether Sir Keir has ability to lead when he was head of the CPS, about serious issues such as the Jimmy Savile investigation.”
Ms Nici also claimed that when Keir Starmer visited Grimsby on “Friday” (he visited on Thursday) people did not want him to come here, adding that the Jimmy Savile issue was “absolutely and utterly the number one issue”.
She said that Grimsby voters on “social media were saying ‘We won’t want him (Starmer) to be Labour leader, he did this with the CPS, he should be ashamed.'”
The Conservative MP, who won her historic seat in 2019, also said that the scandal being broadcast in the media was a “lefty conspiracy” explaining: “the opposition know that while Boris Johnson is Prime Minister, they don’t have a hope in hell of being able taking control of this country.”
Many MPs have publicly slated the PM for spreading the ‘fake news’, which is thought to have originated on Guido Fawkes in 2018, and was shared by popular right wing social media personalities like Tommy Robinson.
Former Conservative Party Chief Whip, Julian Smith MP, slammed the outburst by the PM, saying: “The smear made against Keir Starmer relating to Jimmy Saville yesterday is wrong & cannot be defended. It should be withdrawn.
“False and baseless personal slurs are dangerous, corrode trust & can’t just be accepted as part of the cut & thrust of parliamentary debate.”
