A rare inciteful Channel 4 report last night as the news went to talk to the anti-vaxxer nutters who swarmed Sir Keir on Monday night. The weaponising of the issue as yet another stick to beat Boris with by Labour figures and anti-Boris MPs, aided and abetted by media allies doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny. The PM’s words did not incite the mob, the anti-vaxxers very own pied piper, Piers Corbyn, told viewers the group’s accusations were nothing to do with the PM’s words:

“They already believed it… I would say people know it already and they’d just think ‘Boris is saying this to get out of a problem of his own’.”

Another protestor, Owen, accused “many people in power” – including government ministers – of being paedophiles.  Guido can’t imagine the opposition will be able to accuse the PM of seeding that particular claim among the nutters…

The commentariat seems to have got overexcited by Boris’s comments during this afternoon’s Reuters pool interview, in which he clarified his comments on Starmer, the CPS and Jimmy Savile:

“Let’s be absolutely clear, I’m talking not about the Leader of the Opposition’s personal record when he was DPP and I totally understand that he had nothing to do personally with those decisions. I was making a point about his responsibility for the organisation as a whole.”

This is the same songbook loyal Tory MPs and now ministers have been singing from since the comments were made. Guido cannot see how pundits are interpreting it as the PM backing down. What is different is the tone – something wavering Tory MPs who care about civility in politics will appreciate and may prevent a couple more letters going in to Graham Brady. Boris’s ‘dead nonce strategy’ has worked – Partygate was knocked off the agenda by a row that has raised questions about potential hypocrisy from Starmer. Now time to focus on things that matter to people outside of SW1…

ICYMI: Starmer’s CPS Boast: “When They Made Mistakes I Carried the Can”

As the row over Boris’s Savile attack spills into another day, James Cleverly gave Nick Robinson as good as he got on the Today Programme this morning. With Robinson repeatedly provoking Cleverly to admit the attack was “a smear” and he “knows it”, Cleverly pushed back and pointed out Starmer’s hypocrisy over his own leadership:

“Keir Starmer has said that leaders should carry the can – his words. He has apologised for the CPS’s failure to prosecute whilst he was director of public prosecutions… if the criticism that Keir Starmer is laying at the Prime Minister is about taking responsibility for the actions of organisations he leads… I think highlighting the fact that Keir Starmer, in a position of leadership, also apologised on behalf of his organisation…”

Cleverly’s right: Starmer did apologise on behalf of the CPS, and he did say leaders should carry the can. The culture is set at the top of an institution…

Boris used a quiet moment on his big trip to Ukraine yesterday to double down on his claims about Sir Keir Starmer and Jimmy Savile. Speaking to The Sun, the PM said “As far I’m aware, it’s fairly accurate”. Are the Tories now trialling a ‘dead nonce strategy’?

Is Boris’s attack, as he says, fairly accurate? Way back in 2018 Guido published a list detailing Starmer’s litany of failures as DPP, including failing to build a case against Jimmy Savile. In 2013 Starmer apologised to women abused by Savile after disclosing police had missed three chances to take the case to trial:

“I would like to take the opportunity to apologise for the shortcomings in the part played by the CPS in these cases.”

Hasn’t Labour been recently arguing the culture is set at the top of an institution…

As a Tory source points out to The Sun, if Sir Keir is really passing the buck on decisions taken by the CPS while he was head of the organisation, can he say what action he took at the time against those members of the CPS who were personally responsible? And did he similarly refuse to take any credit for achievements by the CPS that he had no personal involvement in? Guido suspects the answers to both is ‘no’…

Not a name Guido expected to hear in the chamber today…