PM is out of order

No apology over Savile smear

IT IS indicative of the tumult in the Tory party that Prime Minister’s Questions was judged to be a success for Boris Johnson because no Tory MP defected to Labour – or told him to resign as discontent continues to mount over the ‘partygate’ scandal.

Yet Mr Johnson emerged even more discredited and diminished, despite his exchanges with Sir Keir Starmer focusing primarily on the cost of living crisis, after refusing to apologise for his behaviour in the Commons on Monday when he updated MPs on Sue Gray’s findings.

This was when the

PM – in a Trump-like trait – gaslighted political discourse by falsely accusing of Sir Keir of taking the decision, as Director of Public Prosecutions, not to prosecute disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Savile for child sex offences.

He had ample opportunity to do so – PMQs began with Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, reminding MPs about their responsibility not to spread deliberate falsehoods. Even SNP leader Ian Blackford accepted the need to respect the Speaker after branding Mr Johnson a liar 48 hours earlier and being ejected.

And that Mr Johnson declined to do so, as more MPs express their disquiet, made Sir Keir’s retort to baying Tories even more pointed: “Theirs is the party of Winston Churchill. Our parties stood together as we defeated fascism in Europe. Now their leader stands in the House of Commons parroting the conspiracy theories of violent fascists to try to score cheap political points. He knows exactly what he is doing. It is time to restore some dignity.”

The question is how, when Britain is led by a man who so disrespects the office of Prime Minister?