The Savile slur has exposed Labour’s moral bankruptcy

In the corridors of power, where hypocrisy reigns supreme, Labour’s latest salvo against Nigel Farage reeks of desperation and double standards.

The row erupted earlier this week over the Online Safety Act – a draconian piece of legislation masquerading as a child-protection measure, but poised to muzzle free speech across the digital realm. Reform UK has therefore pledged to scrap it. In response, technology secretary Peter Kyle, in a Sky News interview, brazenly aligned Farage with ‘extreme pornographers’ and ‘peddling violence’, suggesting that if notorious paedophile Jimmy Savile were still alive, he would be cheering Farage on. And here’s the kicker: this vile linkage wasn’t some off-the-cuff gaffe. It was pre-cleared by Keir Starmer’s team in No10, as revealed today in a Telegraph exposé. Farage, rightly outraged, branded it ‘disgusting’ and convened a press conference to lambast the smear. Yet Labour doubled down, with Kyle and his surrogates parroting the line online, insisting opponents of the act are ‘on the side of predators’.

Let’s unmask this farce. Kyle’s predatory label isn’t just aimed at Farage – it’s also a blanket slur against a chorus of principled dissenters who’ve decried the Online Safety Act as a threat to liberty. Human-rights giants like Article 19 warn it undermines freedom of expression, privacy and the rule of law. The Electronic Frontier Foundation slams it for enabling mass surveillance and weakening encryption. A coalition of 70 organisations, cybersecurity experts and elected officials, including the Global Encryption Coalition, have signed an open letter decrying its dangers to secure communications. Even the Wikimedia Foundation challenges its regulations, arguing they stifle safe online participation for its volunteer encyclopaedia editors. Privacy advocates, journalists, academics and digital-rights groups from Amnesty International to Big Brother Watch have joined the fray, labelling it ‘borderline dystopian’. And let’s not forget tech firms like Signal and WhatsApp, which have threatened to pull out of the UK market over the act’s encryption mandates. Are these all ‘predators’, Mr Kyle? Or are they guardians of the freedoms Labour once pretended to cherish?

This hypocrisy cuts deeper when we scrutinise Starmer’s own chequered past. As director of public prosecutions from 2008 to 2013, Starmer oversaw the Crown Prosecution Service’s abject failure to pursue Savile, despite credible allegations piling up. A 2013 review found the CPS had dropped a 2009 case against the predator, citing insufficient evidence, a decision that allowed Savile to evade justice until his death. Starmer later apologised on behalf of the CPS (he was not personally informed of the decision to drop the case), but the stain lingers. Boris Johnson weaponised this in 2022, accusing Starmer of ‘failing to prosecute’ Savile. When he did so, the establishment erupted. These were ‘indefensible’ and ‘deliberate slurs’, exploiting the suffering of Savile’s victims, we were told. So how dare Starmer’s cabal now invoke Savile’s ghost against their political foes?

Besides, who is the Labour Party to accuse others of being friends of predators? Don’t get me started on the rape gangs. For months, Labour in government stonewalled a national inquiry into these horrors, despite towns like Rotherham and Oldham exposing systemic failures in policing and child protection. Starmer only u-turned last month, launching a statutory probe under pressure from Conservatives, victims’ advocates and even Elon Musk. Why the reluctance? Critics argue it was to appease certain minority groups, fearing accusations of racism. That some groups are disproportionately involved in these crimes is well established, but Labour prioritised political correctness over justice. Thousands of girls suffered while authorities looked away, and Labour’s dithering perpetuated the cover-up, in part, one must assume to cover up its own complicity in these horrors at a local level.

These attacks on Farage smack of sheer panic. Latest YouGov polls from 27 and 28 July 2025 show Reform surging to 29 per cent, seven points ahead of Labour’s dismal 22 per cent, while Starmer’s personal approval rating plummets to minus 44, as voters tire of his authoritarian lurch. Reform’s pledge to repeal the Online Safety Act resonates because it’s not about shielding predators, it’s about preserving democracy from Big Brother overreach. How many times has ‘Won’t somebody think of the children?’ been used to curtail freedoms? It’s happening again.

In this theatre of the absurd, Labour’s smears only expose its moral bankruptcy. Starmer, Kyle and their ilk aren’t protectors – they’re predators of truth, clawing to retain power as the tide turns against them. Farage and Reform represent the people’s roar, and no amount of Savile slurs will silence it.

Gawain Towler is a commentator, former director of communications for the Brexit Party and a consultant for Reform UK.