WRITER IN ‘KILL BORIS’ BACKLASH
MPs rap ‘rope’ tweet
AUTHOR Philip Pullman has sparked outrage after appearing to suggest the Prime Minister should be killed.
He said: “When I hear the name Boris Johnson, for some reason the words ‘rope’ and ‘nearest lamppost’ come to mind as well.” His rant comes just months before the BBC adaptation of Pullman’s His Dark Materials is screened.
Tory MP Robert Courts said: “You always know people have lost the argument when they resort to hideous language and abuse like this.”
Lib Dem MP Sarah Wollaston said: “No-one should give a scrap of incitement to violence.”
Mr Pullman, 72, deleted his tweets and apologised.
He said: “Recent events have aroused my anger to the point where I temporarily lost my judgement.”
It comes as BBC bosses upheld complaints over Jo Brand’s “battery acid” joke at Nigel Farage on Radio 4, ruling it “went beyond what was appropriate”.