British PM on defensive again over groping claim
MANCHESTER: Britain’s Boris Johnson is known for his colorful love life but the accusation he grabbed a young woman’s thigh when he was a magazine editor risks a scandal as he seeks to unite his party over Brexit. The prime minister, who is attending his Conservative party’s conference in Manchester, northwest England, is accused of giving a female journalist’s leg “a squeeze” while at a private lunch 20 years ago.
Johnson never comments on his personal life but his spokesman issued a clear denial - an acknowledgement that the claim is more serious than gossip about his affairs. It follows accusations that Johnson gave special access to a US businesswoman with whom he is alleged to have had a relationship when he was mayor of London. He denies any impropriety, but it is yet another headache after his defeats in parliament and the courts over his pledge to leave the EU on Oct 31, come what may.
In an article published in The Sunday Times, journalist Charlotte Edwardes described a boozy lunch in the offices of The Spectator magazine around two decades ago, when Johnson was editor. She was sitting next to him and wrote that “under the table I feel Johnson’s hand on my thigh. He gives it a squeeze”. “His hand is high up my leg and he has enough inner flesh beneath his fingers to make me sit suddenly upright.”
She said a woman she spoke with after the dinner, who was sitting on Johnson’s other side, said the same thing happened to her. Johnson was married at the time to his second wife. They are now divorced and he currently lives with his girlfriend Carrie Symonds. Downing Street said Edwardes’ claim was “untrue”, and the prime minister himself denied it in a television interview, while refusing to comment further.
But health minister Matt Hancock said he knew Edwardes well, and “I entirely trust what she has to say”. Former Conservative minister Justine Greening, who is now an independent MP, said the claim was “deeply concerning”. It went “to the heart of this question about character and integrity of people in public life and what standards the electorate have a right to expect,” she told BBC radio.
The allegation comes two years after defense minister Michael Fallon quit following revelations he tried to kiss a journalist. Opposition Labour lawmaker Dawn Butler added: “What is it about powerful men feeling entitled to harass women? Boris Johnson has serious questions to answer.” — AFP