Johnson denies groping claim

MANCHESTER — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson battled to fend off allegations of improper patronage and groping a woman as he prepared a final push Monday to fulfill his pledge to lead his country out of the European Union in just over a month — and, he hopes, move British politics beyond its fracture over Europe.

Johnson sought to energize Conservative members and lawmakers — weary after three years of Brexit gridlock — at the party’s annual conference, but he was forced to deny a journalist’s claim that he had grabbed her thigh at a private lunch two decades ago.

Sunday Times columnist Charlotte Edwardes said the incident took place when she worked at the Spectator, a conservative newsmagazine, while Johnson was its editor.

Asked if the allegation was true, Johnson said: “No.”