Sir Keir Starmer confirms he has received death threats after Boris Johnson's false Jimmy Savile claim

Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed he received death threats following Boris Johnson’s false claim that he failed to prosecute paedophile Jimmy Savile.

The Labour leader said the Prime Minister’s slur had “fed into” a “right-wing conspiracy theory”, and this had caused “difficulty”.

But he said he would rather not talk about the matter because he did not want his young children to hear “too much” of what may be said about him.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer during a visit to the Beacon of Light , a community and education facility, in Sunderland. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire

It comes after police launched an investigation into online death threats against the Labour leader in the wake of the PM’s jibe in the House of Commons.

Asked if he had received such threats following Mr Johnson’s comments, Sir Keir said: “Yes. I do not like talking about this because I have got young children.”

He told BBC Radio Newcastle: “It’s very important for me to say that what the Prime Minister said was wrong, it was very wrong. He knew exactly what he was doing.

“There has been a right-wing conspiracy theory for some time that’s a complete fabrication.

“He fed into that, and that has caused difficulty, but my preference, if I may, is not to talk about that because, as I say, I have got young children and I don’t particularly want them to hear too much of what may or may not be said about me.”

Asked later if Mr Johnson condemned the threats, the PM’s official spokesman told reporters: “Yes.” He added: “Any sort of death threats to politicians are never acceptable.”

Documents, including a batch of messages from users of the Telegram app who appear to be identifiable, were sent to Scotland Yard by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) on Friday.

The Observer reported they included calls for Sir Keir, who along with shadow foreign secretary David Lammy was confronted by a mob in Whitehall last week shouting “paedophile protector”, to be executed.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “On Friday, February 11, police received a third party report relating to allegations of malicious communications made against a serving Member of Parliament.

“An investigation is ongoing.”

No arrests have yet been made.

A Labour source said: “Of course extremists of all stripes don’t like Keir. He spent years helping to put them and their ilk in prison and keep Britain’s streets safe from them.”

The material from the CCDH, shown to The Observer, includes responses to footage of last week’s incident posted by English Defence League founder Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – better known under his pseudonym Tommy Robinson – and conspiracy theory group Resistance GB.

Earlier this month, in a slur that caused widespread criticism and calls for him to apologise, Mr Johnson accused his rival of failing to prosecute Savile while he was director of public prosecutions.

Last Monday, Sir Keir and Mr Lammy, who were walking back from the Ministry of Defence after a briefing on the situation in Ukraine, had to be escorted away from demonstrators by police.

Although Sir Keir was head of the Crown Prosecution Service in 2009 when a decision was taken not to prosecute Savile, he had no personal involvement in the deliberations.

In an interview with The Times, Sir Keir said he had never been called a “paedophile protector” before.