PM denies grope under lunch table
BORIS Johnson was yesterday accused of squeezing a journalist’s inner thigh “so hard she flinched”.
It made an awkward start to the Tory conference Manchester for the Prime Minister.
Charlotte Edwardes claimed he touched her under the table at a lunch in 1999.
The 45-year-old also claims Mr Johnson grabbed the leg of another woman next to him at a Spectator do when he was editor of the magazine.
She said: “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 flesh beneath his fingers to make me sit suddenly upright.”
Ms Edwardes, partner of TV’s Robert Peston, raised the issue with another guest only to find out he had also done it to her.
She said: “We speculate: were the squeezes simultaneous? My memory is that he had a ‘reputation.’”
She compared him to Michael Fallon and Damian Green, ministers who resigned after being accused of sexual misconduct.
Last night a Downing Street spokesman said: “The allegation is untrue.”
But Ms Edwardes hit back in after the denial, tweeting: “If the prime minister doesn’t recollect the incident then clearly I have a better memory than he does.”
US ex-model Jennifer Arcuri was reported to have had a close relationship with Mr Johnson when he was Mayor of London.
Speaking on the Andrew Marr show yesterday the PM denied allegations of giving her company thousands in grants because they had a relationship.
The police watchdog investigating whether crime was committed. is a