Boris Johnson is being urged to withdraw Geoffrey Boycott’s knighthood over his conviction for domestic violence and the former England cricketer’s response to criticism.

Women’s charities and opposition parties made the call after Boycott said he did not “give a toss” about condemnation of his knighthood from a leading domestic violence charity.

Responding to Adina Claire, the co-acting chief executive of Women’s Aid, who described his knighthood as part of former prime minister Theresa May’s resignation honours list as “extremely disappointing”, Boycott told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme presenter Martha Kearney: “I don’t give a toss about her, love.”

The honour caused controversy because of Boycott’s 1998 conviction for assault. His then girlfriend, Margaret Moore, was left with bruising to her forehead and black eyes.

A French court fined him £5,000 and handed down a three-month suspended jail sentence. He has always denied the charge, maintaining her injuries were sustained in an accidental fall. At his trial, the public prosecutor Jean-Yves Duval rejected this claim, saying the injuries were “absolutely incompatible” with an accident.

Claire said: “Celebrating a man who was convicted for assaulting his partner sends a dangerous message that domestic abuse is not taken seriously as a crime.

“With increasing awareness of domestic abuse, and a domestic abuse bill ready to be taken forward by government, it is extremely disappointing that a knighthood has been recommended for Geoffrey Boycott, who is a convicted perpetrator of domestic abuse.”

May, who introduced a landmark domestic abuse bill to parliament earlier this year, gave Boycott a knighthood for services to sport.

A spokeswoman from the Woman’s Trust said: “It’s disappointing to see Geoffrey Boycott included in Theresa May’s honours list, given her vocal support for domestic abuse survivors and the domestic abuse bill.”

In an extraordinary exchange, Kearney asked why Boycott had not been given the honour sooner, and suggested one reason could be the conviction. The former cricketer proclaimed his innocence and cited the conviction as a reason for his outspoken support for Brexit.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Boycott made the comments while speaking to Martha Kearney on the BBC’s Today programme. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

He went on to say, “You can take your political nature and do whatever you want with it”, and claimed the presumption of innocence was reversed in the French legal system. In France, as in Britain, defendants are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.

He said: “Twenty-five years ago, love. In a French court, she [Moore] tried to blackmail me for £1m. I said no, because in England if you pay any money at all, we think: ‘Hang on, there must be something there.’ I said: ‘I’m not paying anything’ … I’m not sure I’d actually got a million at the time.

“It’s a court case in France where you’re guilty, which is one of the reasons I [didn’t] vote to remain in Europe – because you’re guilty until you’re proved innocent. That’s totally the opposite from England and it’s very difficult to prove you’re innocent in another country and another language.

“Most people in England don’t believe it. I didn’t do it. Move on. It’s a cross I have to bear, right or wrong, good or bad, I have to live with it. And I do, because I’m clear in my mind and I think most people in England are that it’s not true.

“I don’t care a toss about her, love. It was 25 years ago. You can take your political nature and do whatever you want with it. You want to talk to me about my knighthood. It’s very nice of you to have me, but I couldn’t give a toss.

“This is just recognition of my cricket. [It’s] very nice, very honoured, thankful to Theresa May and I thank all the people that supported me and cared for me throughout my cricketing career.”

In response to Boycott’s comments disputing the conviction, Claire told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme that the knighthood should be withdrawn, describing it as a “tragedy” that sends “a really terrible message to survivors”. She added: “I believe [the knighthood] should be taken away, absolutely”.

She also spoke to BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, where she expressed her disappointment in May, describing Boycott’s honour as a “misstep” that undermined her record for tackling domestic abuse.

She said women were in limbo as they waited to hear whether Johnson’s government would continue to move May’s legislation forward.

Dawn Butler, the shadow women and equalities secretary, said the honour was “an insult to victims and survivors of domestic violence.”

She added: “Honouring a perpetrator of domestic violence just because he is the former prime minister’s favourite sportsman shows how out of touch and nepotistic the honours list is.

“Boris Johnson should rescind his knighthood today. The whole honours system needs radically overhauling, alongside peerages, so that our political system works for the many not the few.”

David Challen, a domestic violence campaigner added his voice to those calling for the knighthood to be rescinded. Challen, whose mother, Sally Challen was recently freed from prison after killing her husband following decades of abuse, tweeted:

David Challen (@David_Challen) The absolute state of our society for knighting a man who has a conviction for domestic abuse and shows no remorse.



Even Boycott’s reply to @Marthakearney in response to the @womensaid’s concerns was sexist bile:



“I don’t give a toss about her, love.”



Revoke his knighthood now https://t.co/naRxW4rwpn

Reacting to Boycott’s radio appearance, the Women’s Equality party called for a “Boycott boycott”. The party’s leader, Mandu Reid, said: “The contempt shown by Boycott on the Today programme this morning highlights precisely why he shouldn’t be celebrated by the British establishment or anyone, and why he shouldn’t be given airtime by the media. Putting men like him on a pedestal is indefensible and sends a message that violence is normal and acceptable.”

The Yorkshire-born former Spice Girl Melanie Brown, who has accused her ex-husband Stephen Belafonte of domestic abuse, also criticised the decision, saying Boycott was “a disgrace to Yorkshire”. The shadow policing minister, Louise Haigh, who is the MP for Sheffield Heeley, labelled the BBC pundit “an embarrassment to Yorkshire” in a tweet.

Boycott was forced to apologise in 2017 for suggesting he would have to black up to be awarded a knighthood. He is alleged to have said the honour was handed out like “confetti” to West Indies cricketers, saying: “Mine’s been turned down twice. I’d better black me face.”

An estimated 1.3 million women and 695,000 men experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2018, according to Office for National Statistics figures from November 2018.