Squeeze a journalist’s leg under the table? Not me insists Boris
BORIS Johnson has denied squeezing a journalist’s leg during a Westminster lunch.
As allegations of his personal life threatened to overshadow the Tory conference in Manchester, the Prime Minister yesterday rubbished the suggestion made by Sunday Times columnist Charlotte Edwardes.
She claims the incident took place at the offices of The Spectator magazine, shortly after Mr Johnson became editor in 1999.
The PM – who has also faced questions about his relationship with US entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri – insisted the public were not interested in the issue.
When asked about the allegation as he visited a business in Manchester yesterday, Mr Johnson said: “I think what the public want to hear is about what we are doing to unite the country.
“I think there is a lot of people who basically want to stop us delivering Brexit.
“But I have to tell you we are not going to be deterred from that ambition.
“We are going to get on and do it, we are going to get us over the line.”
In her first column for the Sunday Times’ Style magazine, Ms Edwardes wrote: “I’m seated on Johnson’s right. On his left is a young woman I know. More wine is poured, more wine is drunk. 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.”
Ms Edwardes said that after the lunch had taken place, she had confided in the young woman who was sitting on the other side of Mr Johnson, who told her: “Oh God, he did exactly the same to me.”
The wife of Dominic Cummings Mary Wakefield – a Spectator journalist when Mr Johnson was editor – yesterday denied she was the other party.