LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he disagreed with the criticism levelled at him by one of his top aides who quit earlier on Thursday over remarks he had made about the leader of the main opposition party.
During angry exchanges in parliament on Monday, Johnson accused Labour Party leader Keir Starmer of failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, one of Britain’s most notorious sex offenders, during his time as Director of Public Prosecutions.
He attempted to row back from those remarks on Thursday but Munira Mirza quit as his head of policy, saying he should have apologised.
“I’m sorry to lose Munira,” Johnson told 5 News.
Asked about her statement his comments were inappropriate, Johnson said: “Well, I don’t agree with that.”
“Let me make it absolutely clear, because people keep going on about this, and no-one is commenting, least of all me, about the personal involvement of the leader of the opposition in the handling of that case.
“All that I’ve said is that the leader of the opposition apologised for the CPS’s (Crown Prosecution Service) handling of that issue during his tenure and that’s all frankly that needs to be said on that matter.”
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by William James)
