Keir Starmer faces pressure to 'correct the record' and apologise to MPs after wrongly suggesting Boris Johnson had a criminal conviction

Keir Starmer was under pressure to apologise to MPs last night after wrongly suggesting that Boris Johnson had a criminal conviction. What was he thinking?’ The Conservative leader added: ‘The country needs conviction politicians, not politicians with convictions.’ In a calculated jibe at Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, Sir Keir hit back: ‘I gently remind her that two of her predecessors had convictions for breaking the Covid rules.’ Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak were controversially handed £50 fixed penalties for attending a so-called birthday party in Downing Street during lockdown. The Prime Minister was urged to ‘correct the record’ after aiming the slur at Mr Johnson while trying to defend his own judgment in appointing Louise Haigh to the Cabinet despite knowing that she had a conviction for fraud Mr Johnson last night said the PM had ‘misled the Commons’ – a resigning offence – and urged him to withdraw his remarks Former solicitor general Sir Michael Ellis echoed the call and said that as a former director of public prosecutions, Sir Keir should have been well aware of the difference between a fixed penalty notice and a criminal conviction. ‘It is factually wrong and he should correct the record.’ After the Commons clashes, a spokesman for Mrs Badenoch said it was ‘important to point out that fixed penalty notices are not criminal convictions’. During angry exchanges in the Commons, Kemi Badenoch said the public deserved ‘an explanation’ for why he ‘knowingly appointed a convicted fraudster to be his transport secretary An image issued by the Cabinet Office showing the then prime minister Boris Johnson at a gathering in the Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street on his birthday, which was released with the publication of Sue's Gray report into Downing Street parties in Whitehall during the coronavirus lockdown ‘The fact is two of the leader of the opposition’s predecessors were found guilty of breaking the law with partying in Downing Street while telling everyone else to follow the rules.’ Ms Haigh resigned last week after details of a spent conviction for fraud came to light.