The Conservative mayoral selection race descended further into crisis on Wednesday as the TV producer who accused Daniel Korski of groping her in Downing Street revealed she had made a formal complaint to the Cabinet Office.
Daisy Goodwin, who claims Mr Korski touched her breast, said she received “many messages of support” and “had been contacted by other women with some very interesting stories.”
Government ministers “paused” support for Mr Korski’s bid to win the Tory mayoral nomination — as the party faced questions about whether it had “given up” on the capital and any hope of defeating Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan in next year’s City Hall elections.
The crisis escalated for the Tories, dragging Rishi Sunak’s Government further into the controversy, just hours before Prime Minister’s Questions.
Ms Goodwin, in an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, said: “Since I wrote my piece I have been contacted by other women with some very interesting stories, which clearly I can’t talk about for legal reasons. I feel entirely justified in having written the piece and naming him.”
Mr Korski, who was David Cameron’s deputy policy chief at the time he met Ms Goodwin in 2013, has denied the allegation.
He said he would “absolutely” not be quitting the race and said he highlighted the allegation during the vetting process for the Tory mayoral shortlist. “I didn’t do what’s been alleged,” he told Talk TV. “I believe firmly that I’m innocent.”
But he announced later on Wednesday he was quitting the race.
Ms Goodwin, asked about Mr Korski’s denial, told the BBC: “That is what tends to happen in these situations. I think people have to decide who they choose to believe.”
Asked whether she was certain in her recollection of the incident, Ms Goodwin recalled feeling “amazed, shocked and rather humiliated”. She said: “To ask me if I’m certain is to ask me if I’m making it up. That is not the case.”
She called and emailed the Cabinet Office on Tuesday but struggled to submit her complaint. “It’s basically like trying to get through to BT if your phone line has gone down,” she said.
Eventually an official returned her call. Ms Goodwin said: “I have had many, many messages of support. The only reason I did it was to see whether there would be other people out there who have gone through similar experiences. I just hope all women now feel that they can step forward and talk about things that happened to them in the workplace.”
Downing Street urged for no conclusions to be made over the claims until the proper processes have been followed.
The Prime Minister’s press secretary said: “The two parties are telling different stories, the proper processes should be followed and conclusions shouldn’t be drawn on until the processes are followed through.”
She said the vetting process for London mayoral candidates is carried out by the Conservative Party. Asked if the PM was aware of any concerns before press reports, she said: “No, not that I’m aware of.”
Conservative Party grandees said the chaos of the mayoral selection process highlighted wider issues about the way the party was being run and its commitment to London.
Staff working for another shortlisted candidate, Moz Hossain, face a police investigation for attending a party at Tory HQ while Covid restrictions were in force. Minister for London Paul Scully was left off the shortlist, with the 24-member selection panel preferring London Assembly member Susan Hall.
Michael Spencer, the billionaire businessman and former Tory party treasurer, said it had to find a candidate of “true stature and vision”. He told the Standard: “The mayoral election next May is vital to its future prosperity and to the wellbeing of all Londoners like me. The Conservatives simply must challenge [Sadiq Khan] properly.”
One senior London Conservative said Tory Central Office had “f***ed up” the selection process — and pointed the finger of blame at party chairman Greg Hands.
He said: “We ended up with a shortlist of Moz, who may be a brilliant criminal defence KC but is not a credible candidate, Dan and Susan, who will stand up for family values and common sense but is further to the Right than Genghis Khan.”
Another leading London Tory said: “Our selectorate has the habit for voting for the devil it doesn’t know. They tend not to value experience over novelty.”
Professor Tony Travers, director of the London School of Economics, said: “The Conservatives could win in London if they had the right candidate. But it’s almost as if they have gone along with the idea that they can’t win in London anymore. They seem to have given up.”
The Standard was told that officials at party HQ had decided on the “longlist” of nine candidates but left it to local and regional officers to determine the shortlist after “sifting” through CVs and interviewing candidates. Thorough “character” checks have long been abandoned, a well-placed source said.
One Tory veteran of City Hall said: “Central Office has not thought this process through. Scratcing around for a candidate won’t do. The election is not lost but we are in a desperate state.
“All the ‘cool’ Tories were backing Korski, and the suburban Tories were backing Susan. Until last week the selection process had got virtually no media coverage. Now we have got coverage for all the wrong reasons.”
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, backed Mr Hossain to secure victory. “He’s not a standard politician,” he said. “He offers the greatest challenge to Khan.”
But Andrew Boff, the veteran assembly member who also fell victim to the shortlisting process, backed Ms Hall. “She is the candidate with the most experience and the one who will cause most discomfort to Khan,” he said.
Mr Hands promised the party would have its mayoral candidate in place by July 19. The chosen candidate will have to battle Government unpopularity and accusations it prefers to “level down London” to favour the North, including by rationing support for the capital’s arts scene.
Mr Hands told the Standard today: “When our capital is being let down every day by Sadiq Khan, people can rest assured the Conservative party in London will stand up for them.
"From Hammersmith to Hillingdon, Bermondsey to Bexley, conservative councillors, Assembly members and MPs work week in, week out to deliver for residents.
"When the London mayor axes bus routes, fails to keep our streets safe, and takes Londoners for granted, it’s the Conservatives who hold his feet the fire, and it’s us who will show him the door next election."
