Andy Burnham has asked for Parliament’s official record to be corrected after telling MPs an “individual” was “responsible for the murder” of Ann Widdecombe.
The prime minister had faced calls to apologise for the remarks, made during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, with a senior Tory saying they breached the “presumption of innocence” in criminal cases.
A man was charged with Widdecombe’s murder in July, but is yet to enter a plea for the charge and is not due to stand trial until next year.
A No 10 spokeswoman said a correction had been issued to Hansard, the official report of parliamentary debates, and would be “published in due course”.
Joshua Kerry, 28, was charged in July with the murder of 78-year-old Widdecombe, a former Conservative minister and Reform spokeswoman.
A trial before a High Court judge is scheduled for 8 June next year, and a plea and case management hearing on 29 January.
Earlier this month, Kerry was also charged with preparing acts of terror including against Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Speaking on Thursday, Conservative shadow Commons leader Jesse Norman accused Burnham of breaching Parliament’s sub judice rule, which says MPs should not refer to pending court cases in order to avoid influencing the outcome.
He added that the prime minister’s comments at PMQs had “breached the legal presumption of innocence”.
He asked Commons leader Sir Alan Campbell, a government minister, to “correct the record, withdraw the remark and apologise on behalf of the prime minister”.
In response, Sir Alan said the prime minister had “said that he misspoke, he has apologised and he has corrected the record”.
“There is no excuse for misspeaking in the House and I am not trying to explain that away, but this prime minister is characterised by an authenticity and a passion in the way that he responds,” he added.
“It is not unusual for prime ministers or anybody else to misspeak in the House.
“As long as they correct the record, which he has done, that should be put into perspective.”
