Sir Keir Starmer has said he makes “no apologies at all” for reminding voters of the prime minister’s record on law and order as he doubled down on Labour’s controversial attack ads in an interview with the Daily Mail.
The ad, which accused the prime minister of not wanting child sex abusers to go to prison, has caused unease among the shadow Cabinet and among Labour members.
It highlighted analysis of official data and said that, under the Tories, “4,500 adults convicted of sexually assaulting children under-16 served no prison time”.
A photo of a smiling prime minister was cast alongside the words: “Do you think adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison? Rishi Sunak doesn’t.”
Senior figures including former home secretary Lord David Blunkett called for it to be withdrawn, saying Labour is better than “gutter” politics.
But Starmer has doubled down on the ad, saying he makes “absolutely zero apologies for being blunt” in an interview with the Daily Mail.
The ads have been widely condemned on social media, with Aaron Bastani pointing out that Starmer hasn’t always been so tough on rape.
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell accused Starmer of reverting to “personal smears” and “Daily Mail style distortions”.
While Sarah Murphy said it was clear who the ads were supposed to appease.
But not everyone has been critical of the Twitter posts.
Sir Michael Take – a parody account – said they reflect the same sort of politics that is commonplace among certain Tory MPs.
And Chris Bryant said the ads have “done the trick” because people are talking about them.
Related: BBC objects to “government funded media” label on Twitter