This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

Jo Swinson has led criticism from political leaders over Prince Andrew’s “disheartening” remarks about his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Liberal Democrat leader condemned his use of language about sex and failure to put the late financier’s victims at the centre of his BBC interview.

However, Boris Johnson refused to be drawn when asked whether he shared “the nation’s incredulity” about the royal’s account of his behaviour.

“I won’t get dragged into commentary about matters concerning the royal family,” the prime minister said at an event organised by the Confederation of British Industry on Monday.

The Duke of York is facing demands in the UK and the US to speak to the FBI over the sex trafficking allegations against Epstein, which are being posthumously investigated. Asked by a reporter whether he would encourage the prince to cooperate with the US authorities, Johnson replied: “Nice try.”

Play Video 1:54 Prince Andrew denies having sex with teenager, saying he took daughter for pizza in Woking – video

The prince has come under fire for his comments in the interview with the BBC’s Newsnight, which aired on Saturday, in which he said Epstein’s behaviour was “unbecoming” but refused to express regret over their friendship.

“I think, like most people watching it, I found it a very troubling thing to see,” Swinson said during a campaign visit in St Albans on Monday. “And, I just couldn’t quite understand how somebody could be talking about their relationship with that man without recognising, or understanding, or discussing, how he felt about those victims. And I felt they should have been much more at the centre of that discussion.”

She continued: “Those girls and young women who were trafficked, who were sexually abused by Epstein. And how you could have a whole interview discussing that without him expressing his views, his sympathy, his feelings about what those young women had gone through I just thought was really disheartening.”

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Aspects of Andrew’s language were “very difficult” to hear, Swinson added, citing his use of the word “unbecoming” to discuss sexual abuse and challenging him over his remark that sex for a man was “a positive act”.

“That would suggest for a woman it is not a positive act,” she said. “Actually, it’s a positive act for anybody, man or woman to have sex, because if it’s not a positive act, then there is not that consent, and that’s rape.”

On Saturday, the Labour MP Jess Phillips, a leading campaigner for women’s rights in parliament, said the group of teenagers she was watching the Epstein interview with “instinctively think he’s lying”.

She tweeted: “What a load of BS. You can’t forget positive action, WTF. A manner unbecoming, he raped children!!!!”

The furore over the interview showed no sign of dying down on Monday evening after Andrew was accused of using the N-word in a conversation with a senior political aide in 2012. Buckingham Palace sources have flatly denied the claim.