Earlier today News OnTheWight put a series of questions to Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Bob Seely, over the widely-reported false slurs directed by the Prime Minister to the Leader of the Opposition last week.
The suggestion has been made that these comments made in Parliament, but not retracted by Boris Johnson, led to the Sir Keir Starmer being mobbed by protesters on Monday afternoon.
News OnTheWight asked the MP,
- What is your reaction to seeing what happened to Keir Starmer yesterday when he was mobbed by people calling out Jimmy Savile’s name, accusing him of protecting paedophiles and going after journalists?
- Do comments accusing Keir Starmer of the above have any connection to what Boris Johnson said to him in Parliament?
- Do you think Boris Johnson should give a full apology over those claims he made in the House last week?
- Does Boris Johnson still have your full support?
Seely: No one is holding Starmer directly responsible
Once again, Bob Seely avoided answering all the questions, instead giving this response,
“Politics should always be conducted in a thoughtful and decent environment, and abusive, aggressive or criminal behaviour should not be tolerated. As many of us know, so much interaction, especially through Social Media, has simply become obnoxious and abusive. The conspiratorial accusations made against Starmer are clearly idiotic.
“However, on a series note, the Leader of the Opposition took credit for the achievements of Crown Prosecution Service, so it is not completely unfair or unreasonable that he be held responsible for its corporate failings, especially since he has already apologised for that failing.
“No one is holding him directly responsible or suggested he intervened in any way inappropriate in the vile Savile case, but if you take credit for the work of the CPS when you led it, then taking the flak when the CPS doesn’t prosecute a case that it should have done seems reasonable, especially – I stress – since Keir Starmer himself did the right thing and later apologised for not prosecuting.”
Seely: Islanders don’t care a few yobbish idiots get up to in Westminster
Seely finished by saying,
“I understand journalists are fascinated by some Westminster stories, but I strongly suspect much of what has passed for news from Parliament recently matters little to most Islanders.
“My time is focused on delivering for the Island. We got the Island’s Forum in the Levelling Up bid, the Island’s schools are in an Education Investment Area, we’re campaigning for a Road Policing Unit to save lives on the IW, we got the IW Levelling Up bid over the line to create jobs and prosperity in the shipbuilding industry on the Island.
“These are the things that matter to Islanders, not what a few yobbish idiots get up to in Westminster, whether they heckle and harass Tories, as they sometimes do, or Labour, as they did in this case with Keir Starmer, who has my sympathy.”
See Isle of Wight Liberal Democrat’s spokesperson, Nick Stuart’s response.
