The political weaponisation of Jimmy Savile

"Make no mistake about it: if people like Jimmy Savile were alive today, they would be perpetrating their crimes online – and Nigel Farage is saying that he is on their side."

Last week's comments by Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, in response to Farage's criticism of the government's new Online Safety Act, are "the talk show equivalent of a declaration of war", said The Telegraph. In political battles, there is no weapon as loaded with controversy as associating your enemy with the DJ and TV presenter believed to be Britain's worst sexual abuser.

Savile is now "the face of evil", City A.M. said. He was "guilty not just of appalling crimes" but also of "abusing trust, exploiting his celebrity" and "flaunting clues to his grotesque nature". Kyle's comments were not "like calling someone a 'Nazi' or a 'war criminal'. This is more personal: summoning up a universal hate figure and saying that your opponent is like him or on his side."

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The 'weaponisation of suffering'

Kyle's remarks were not a slip of the tongue; they were sanctioned in advance by Downing Street, according to multiple reports.

Ministers believe Farage and Reform UK have "made a misjudgement in pledging to scrap internet safety laws, given the massive unease across the country about what children are viewing online", said Sky News political correspondent Rob Powell. "But the risk inherent in tactics like this is that it makes some on your own side feel a little icky."

When former PM Boris Johnson "dragged Savile's name" into an "attempt to save his disintegrating premiership" and suggested that Keir Starmer had failed to prosecute Savile when he was Director of Public Prosecutions, widespread "disgust" was "felt across the political spectrum", said John Rentoul in The Independent.

Johnson's "deliberate attempt to invoke conspiracy theories driven by fears of paedophilia" prompted his policy adviser, Munira Mirza, to resign, and did little to deflect from the furore around lockdown-busting parties that ultimately ended his tenure as PM.

Richard Scorer, a lawyer who represented survivors of Savile's abuse, condemned Johnson's remarks at the time. And he told The Telegraph last week he felt the same way about Kyle's comments: "It is completely wrong for any politician of any party to seek to score points using the suffering of Savile victims. Victims and survivors want to see action to protect children, not weaponisation of their suffering for political purposes".

An opening for Farage

Johnson's attack on Starmer was "desperate" but it was also "more relevant than Kyle's attack on Farage", said Rentoul. "Farage has nothing to do with Savile" and attempting to "link the Reform leader with a notorious child sex abuser" is not only "gratuitous and offensive" but "makes Kyle seem desperate, and allows Farage to pose as the wronged party".

Now, Farage's criticisms of the Online Safety Act "seem more credible". And, said The Telegraph, Kyle's outburst "opens the door" for Farage to go after Starmer's actions "at the time the first complaints" against Savile were filed in the 2000s.

Reform "sources" have already signalled they "could focus on the PM's record as a prosecutor" and even try to contrast it with their ever-tougher-on-crime stance that is proving popular with voters.

Kyle's comments could "backfire" dramatically, said The Spectator. "Opposing a law that fails to protect children and cracks down on free speech doesn't put you in the same group as Savile", and trying to suggest that it does only makes "one thing clear: Labour is seriously rattled about the rise of Reform".