Johnson ‘does not remember’ lunch where ‘grope’ took place

BY TORCUIL CRICHTON BORIS Johnson says he has “no memory” of the lunch where a woman claimed he groped her inner thigh.

Confronted by ITV’s Paul Brand on the issue at the Tory Conference, the Prime Minister again denied the claim from Westminster journalist Charlotte Edwardes was true.

Asked if he could remember the lunch, Johnson replied: “I don’t to be honest.”

Brand then asked him: “But if you don’t remember it Prime Minister, why should we take your word over someone who does?”

Edwardes wrote in the Sunday Times that when she and Johnson worked at the Spectator magazine, he squeezed her thigh and that of another woman, at a work lunch.

She wrote: “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.”

She added: “Afterwards, I confide in the young woman on his other side. She replies, ‘Oh God, he did exactly the same to me’.

In the face of previous denials by Johnson, Edwardes tweeted: “If the Prime Minister doesn’t recollect the incident, then clearly I have a better memory than he does.”

Pressed on how he could be sure it did not happen if he cannot remember it, the PM replied: “Well I can tell you it is absolutely not true.”

He added: “It is not true, for all sorts of reasons, and I don’t wish, as I say, to minimise the importance of the subject.

“I don’t wish to cast aspersions on the motives of anybody who makes this type of allegation but it is not true and what I want to do is focus on our domestic agenda.”

Johnson’s denials came during another shambolic day at the Tory conference where the PM was forced to deny leaks of proposals for customs security checks close to the Irish border.

Meanwhile, an MP was sent home in disgrace after a scuffle with a security guard as the party unveiled its law and order agenda.

Earlier, Johnson had suggested that allegations about his personal conduct have been motivated by people opposed to his policies on Brexit.

In a BBC interview, he said: “This is a very difficult time and people are thinking of the country in the sense that Brexit is about to be done and a lot of people don’t want Brexit to be done.

“And I think, rightly or wrongly, they conceive of me as the person who is helping to deliver Brexit and it’s inevitable that I’m going to come under a certain amount of shot and shell. I don’t mind that in the least.”

The Prime Minister was on the back foot after overnight leaks of proposals the UK has put to the EU for customs check zones close to the Irish border.

The PM said the reports were a “distortion” of the Government plans and insisted he would be offering the EU “very constructive and far-reaching proposals” to break the Brexit impasse.

But he confirmed the UK’s plan would include some customs checks on the island of Ireland after Brexit.

But they would be “absolutely minimal” and “won’t involve new infrastructure”.

The Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said in the event of a no-deal Brexit, there would need to be checks at ports, airports and perhaps at the border.

But he said that would only be the case if the UK left without an agreement

He added: “We’ve never been in the position of signing up to checks as part of a deal.”

There was speculation last night Johnson would use his conference speech todayto reveal his Brexit strategy.

“TODAY, in Manchester, this party re-stakes its claim as the party of law and order.” Priti Patel, on the day Tory MP Sir Geoffrey CliftonBrown is sent home after a clash with security staff.