Boris’s advisers head for the exits

LONDON: Boris Johnson’s staff are deserting him as pressure intensifies on the embattled British Prime Minister over lockdown parties and his loose-lipped style of politics.

One of the departures was linked to an inflammatory remark made by Mr Johnson (pictured), attacking Opposition Leader Keir Starmer over a notorious paedophile.

Downing Street confirmed chief of staff Dan Rosenfield was leaving, just over a year after he took on the role with a brief to professionalise Mr Johnson’s chaotic operation.

His resignation comes after a top civil servant, in a longawaited inquiry, this week condemned “failures of leadership” in Downing Street over a series of parties held in violation of Covid restrictions. Also going is Mr Johnson’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, who sent a now-notorious email urging Downing Street staff to “bring your own booze” to one lockdown gathering.

Their departures were confirmed not long after those of two other top advisers – director of communications Jack Doyle and head of policy Munira Mirza.

Mr Doyle was implicated in the “partygate” affair after attending at least one Downing Street event that is under investigation by police.

Ms Mirza quit after the Prime Minister tried to link Mr Starmer to the failure by UK authorities to prosecute veteran TV host Jimmy Savile, who died in 2011 aged 84.

While alive, Savile was seen as a widely loved presenter. But after his death accusations emerged he had been a serial abuser of hundreds of children, without facing prosecution.

Mr Johnson shocked many when he aired a conspiracy theory prevalent among farright groups that Mr Starmer had personally failed to prosecute Savile when he was director of state prosecutions.

Mr Starmer was not personally involved in the decision, and he accused Mr Johnson of “parroting the conspiracy theories of violent fascists to try to score cheap political points”.