Johnson only interested in ‘saving his skin’, says murdered MP’s sister

The sister of murdered MP Jo Cox has said she found the scenes of Sir Keir Starmer being rescued from a mob “really upsetting” and accused Boris Johnson of only caring about is how to “save his skin”.

Kim Leadbeater, who is Labour MP for the same Batley and Spen seat her sister represented, joined the widespread criticism of Mr Johnson for his baseless claims about the Labour leader’s failure to prosecute Jimmy Savile when he was Director of Public Prosecutions.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Womens Hour, she said: “I found yesterday really upsetting, it made me really angry, and we have to look at why it happened.

“And I think, ultimately, the individuals who were part of that angry mob have to take personal responsibility, but we also have to be clear that things don’t happen in a vacuum.

“And while ever we have a culture of toxicity and aggression and lies in politics, we have to think about the consequences of that.”

Her comments come as MPs called on Boris Johnson to apologise and withdraw his allegations. Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle warned the prime minister on Tuesday that his “words have consequences” and said Mr Johnson’s remarks were “inappropriate” and “only inflame opinions”.

Tobias Ellwood, chair of parliament’s defence select committee, urged Boris Johnson to “apologise please”, adding: “We claim to be the Mother of all parliaments. Let’s stop this drift towards a Trumpian style of politics from becoming the norm. We are better than this.”

Kim Leadbeater, who became an MP in July 2021, said: “Words and that culture filters down to other people and it really concerns me that we have got a Prime Minister who seems to be stoking the anger that people feel in the country at the moment and that can have real repercussions for society.”

Ms Leadbeater’s sister Jo Cox was murdered by a rightwing terrorist during the EU referendum campaign in June 2016. While attacking her he was saying: “This is for Britain”, “keep Britain independent”, and “Britain first”, a court heard.

Asked for her reaction to Downing Street’s insistence on Tuesday that the Prime Minister will not apologise for his remarks, Kim Leadbeater said: “I think that’s absolutely the wrong thing to do.”

She said: “I don’t think Boris Johnson is interested in listening to me. He didn’t welcome me to Parliament when I got the job.

“I’ve had very little to do with him. He did eventually write a note to me.

“But I don’t think Boris Johnson wants to listen to people like me.

“I think he wants to save his skin and he wants to make sure that he is still Prime Minister and, at the moment, it feels like that’s pretty much all he cares about. And I find that really sad.”

The MP, who entered the Commons following a by-election last year, said Mr Johnson had “disrespected victims of sexual abuse and he tried to score points.”

And she said: “We deserve better than that in this country.”

Ms Leadbeater said there was “a moral vacuum when it comes the current leadership of the country”.

She added: “Do we want to live in a country where we’ve got baying mobs harassing people in the street?”

Ms Leadbeater told presenter Emma Barnett how she texted her mother after seeing Sir Keir being escorted from the incident by police.

But she said her mother encouraged her to speak out despite knowing that it would fuel those who would respond negatively to her on social media.