One political commentator says he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is 'legitimising' the far-right with language he uses.
Owen Jones, who is a columnist with The Guardian, was speaking after UK Labour leader Keir Starmer was confronted by a mob shouting "traitor" and "Jimmy Savile" at him on Monday.
Downing Street has said Mr Johnson will not apologise for using a discredited claim that Mr Starmer personally failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
An official spokesperson said that Mr Johnson's words in London's House of Commons last week were "capable of being misconstrued", but said he had subsequently issued a "clarification".
"The prime minister clarified his remarks last week to make clear he was not suggesting Keir Starmer was individually responsible for the Savile decision," the spokesman said.
"I think the prime minister was making a political point about taking responsibility for organisations as a whole."
'This isn't new'
Owen told The Hard Shoulder Mr Johnson is legitimising the far-right.
"These form of far-right extremists obviously haven't been magicked up by Boris Johnson.
"The point is that he's helping to legitimise and radicalise them.
"As you know, the Jimmy Savile smear is false - it has been circulating for a long time, particularly [in] the darker recesses of Facebook where it's being spread by far-right extremists.
"This isn't new, in terms of Boris Johnson.
"I wrote a column two and a half years ago entitled 'Johnson’s ugly rhetoric thrills the far right, but he’s playing with fire'.
"The problem has been with Boris Johnson - uniquely I would say, compared to other Conservative prime ministers - we had the National Front in the 1970s and 1980s, the far-right party, which did not look to Margaret Thatcher as one of their own.
"That's not been the case with Boris Johnson".
'Boris Johnson is not a man of conviction, to put it lightly'. @OwenJones84 joins @TheHardShoulder to discuss the mob attack on Keir Starmer, and Boris Johnson's role in the saga. pic.twitter.com/cnZJuT8Jlj
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) February 8, 2022
Johnson 'very much part of that'
Owen says the language used is unhelpful, and has been used before.
"What you should see is a clear fence, a big wall, between the mainstream right and the far-right has crumbled.
"And Boris Johnson, I'm afraid, is very much part of that.
"You can't look at this in isolation: this form of right-wing extremists have been whipped up by Boris Johnson, but also the British media.
"During the Brexit drama, front pages of British newspapers had things like 'Crush the Saboteurs', 'Enemies of the People' which is how some judges were described when they wanted to have parliamentary scrutiny of the Brexit process.
"This kind of language has been mainstreamed by mainstream politicians, including Boris Johnson, and it's legitimised the sort of people we saw mobbing Keir Starmer".
And he believes Mr Johnson will "opportunistically use rhetoric for cynical political ends.
"And if that includes demagogic language that the far-right like, then so be it".
While Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon compared Mr Johnson's comments about Mr Starmer and Savile to "battery acid" that would "corrode trust in our politics".
She called on him to withdraw his remarks and issue an "unequivocal" apology over the "out and out smear".
"If [Mr Johnson] had a shred of decency - and I appreciate that that may be the flaw in the argument that I'm about to make - but if has a single shred of decency he will withdraw the comments that he made completely," she said.
"And he will fully, unreservedly, unequivocally apologise to Keir Starmer.
"And he will join with others in saying that we should hold each other to account, we should have robust debate in a democracy, but we should all draw the line at bringing the smears and the lies and the conspiracy theories of the far right and the other trolls that populate social media, into the mainstream of our democracy.
"Because if we allow that to happen, it's like battery acid that will corrode trust in our politics and corrode the very fabric of our democracy."
