Boris Johnson under fire for "crass" and "disgusting" child abuse comments

GAFFE-prone politician Boris Johnson was branded an “idiot” for claiming that money spent on investigating historic child abuse is “spaffed up the wall”.

The former Mayor of London, when asked if cuts to the police service were linked to a rise in violent crime, said: “I think an awful lot of money, an awful lot of police time, now goes into these historic offences and all this malarkey and you know £60 million I saw has been spaffed up the wall on some investigation into historic child abuse?

“What on earth is that going to do to protect the public now?

“What the people want is to see officers out on the streets doing what they signed up to do.”

Child rape survivor Sammy said: “What he has said is just stupid. I don’t know if he was just trying to get a reaction but surely an educated man knows saying something like that is stupid.

“The fact people like this are running the country might explain why we’re in such a mess.

“He’s probably insulted a large part of the country because when you look at child rape and abuse (victims) the people have family members, friends and children and the impact goes on and on.

“He just seems to have a habit of being an absolute idiot.”

Refuting claims that money spent on investigating historic child abuse was wasted, Sammy pointed out one of the outcomes of major investigations was criminals being locked up for hundreds of years and victims being protected from them.

Ms Champion said she was “disgusted” by Mr Johnson’s comments and accused him of “appalling victim blaming”, challenging her Tory rival to meet her to discuss the issue.

CSE whistleblower and Swinton Lock Centre chief executive Jayne Senior called the remarks “disgraceful”.

The NSPCC said: “Bringing child abuse perpetrators to justice is not ‘malarkey’ and such crass language is an affront to victims who have suffered in silence for decades.”