Tories will not investigate allegations against shortlisted London mayoral candidate

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The Conservative party has signalled it will not investigate groping allegations made against one of the candidates seeking the Tory nomination for London mayor.

Daniel Korski, who is on the three-person shortlist to run as the party’s hopeful in the capital’s mayoral race next spring, has flatly denied groping a television producer 10 years ago when he was a special adviser in Downing Street.

On Tuesday Daisy Goodwin, creator of ITV series Victoria, accused Korski of having touched her breast during a one-on-one meeting in Number 10.

Korski’s spokesperson said: “In the strongest possible terms, Dan categorically denies any allegation of inappropriate behaviour whatsoever.”

In response to the allegations, Conservative Campaign Headquarters said the party “has an established code of conduct and formal processes where complaints can be made in confidence”.

It continued: “The party considers all complaints made under the code of conduct but does not conduct investigations where the party would not be considered to have primary jurisdiction over another authority.”

A Tory insider questioned the basis on which the party could investigate the claim. “She says something happened 10 years ago, he denies it. Nobody else present. How are we supposed to investigate that?”

The insider added that it “wouldn’t be our jurisdiction”, but a matter for the Cabinet Office, since Korski had been a special adviser employed by the government at the time of the alleged incident.

Writing in The Times newspaper, Goodwin said: “When we both stood up at the end of the meeting and went to the door, the spad [special adviser] stepped towards me and suddenly put his hand on my breast. Astonished, I said loudly, ‘Are you really touching my breast?’ The spad sprang away from me and I left.”

She continued: “Although I suppose legally his action could be called sexual assault, I have to say that I did not feel frightened . . . What I felt was surprise and some humiliation.”

Goodwin previously wrote about the alleged incident in an article for Radio Times magazine during the height of the MeToo movement in 2017, but had not publicly identified the special adviser.

On Tuesday she said Korski’s decision to contest the London mayoralty was “a reason to name him” now as the special adviser involved in the alleged incident.

She also claimed that after her original article came out, “everyone in the media seemed to know his identity”.