The Conservative party put pressure on the BBC not to describe a claim by Boris Johnson that Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile as “false”, the Guardian has been told.
The allegation made by Johnson in February last year prompted fury, including from within his own party, and he eventually rowed back on the claim.
However, behind the scenes, Conservative party headquarters was pressing the BBC not to describe it as a “false” accusation. The BBC resisted the demand and continued to refer to it in those terms.
The furore first erupted when Johnson accused the Labour leader of “failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile” for child sex abuse more than a decade ago when Starmer was head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). An official CPS report confirmed there was no reference to involvement from Starmer in the decision-making.
After the exchange at PMQs, a senior aide to Johnson quit, saying his intervention was “scurrilous”. Three days later, Johnson backtracked on the claim, saying he was referring to Starmer’s leadership of the organisation at the time of the Savile decision rather than implying he was personally involved.
BBC sources said there had been communication from Conservative campaign headquarters (CCHQ) urging it not to use the term “false”, with points raised about Starmer taking credit for positive records from his time at the CPS.
Sources at other major broadcasters, Sky and ITV, said they were not aware of the same request being made to their editors...
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