A former Downing Street aide who is facing allegations of groping a TV producer in No 10 a decade ago said it is “disheartening” the claim has emerged during his bid to become the Tory mayoral candidate for London.
Daniel Korski said it was “categorically” untrue that he groped screenwriter Daisy Goodwin after she used articles in The Times and Daily Mail to identify the former special adviser.
In a statement posted on Twitter he said he was not aware of an official complaint being made against him.
The Conservative Party said it was not investigating the claim and Downing Street insisted No 10 was a safe environment for women.
Downing Street earlier refused to be drawn on the individual case or whether there would be a Cabinet Office investigation into Mr Korski who, at the time of the allegations, was a special adviser to then-prime minister David Cameron.
“I understand that this news may have caused concern, and I want to assure you I categorically deny any wrong-doing,” Mr Korski said in his statement .
“Politics can be a rough and challenging business. Unfortunately, in the midst of this demanding environment, this baseless allegation from the past has resurfaced.
“It is disheartening to find myself connected to this allegation after so many years, but I want to unequivocally state that I categorically deny any claim of inappropriate behaviour. I denied when it was alluded to seven years ago and I do so now.
“To be clear – nothing was raised at the time, nothing was raised with me seven years ago when this was alluded to and even now, I’m not aware that there was an official complaint.”
A Tory spokesman said: “The Conservative Party has an established code of conduct and formal processes where complaints can be made in confidence.
“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.”
It is understood no formal complaint has been made by Ms Goodwin to Conservative Party headquarters.
The TV producer, who was behind the hit show Victoria, wrote in the Times that at the end of a meeting “the spad [special advisor] 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.
“Although I suppose legally his action could be called sexual assault, I have to say that I did not feel frightened.
“I was older, taller and very possibly wiser than the spad, and having worked for the BBC in the 80s I knew how to deal with gropers.
“What I felt was surprise and some humiliation.
“I was a successful award-winning TV producer with 40 or so people working for me; this was not behaviour that I would have tolerated in my office.
“By the time I got back to work I had framed it as an anecdote about the spad who groped me in No 10.
“His behaviour was so bizarre that I couldn’t help seeing the humour in it.
“It was as if I had walked into Carry On Downing Street.”
It is not the first time Ms Goodwin has spoken about the incident, but she said that she now wanted to name Mr Korski given the fact he was in the running to become the Conservative mayoral candidate.
Asked if Mr Sunak thought it was important that allegations of harassment should be investigated, the No 10 spokesman said: “Without wanting to be drawn into specifics, I think in any walk of life, I think the Prime Minister would expect that to be the case.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Korski has “clearly got to answer” questions about his alleged behaviour.
“I know very little of the detail here, other than I’ve seen the awful allegations,” Sir Keir told the New Statesman’s Politics Live Conference in central London on Tuesday.
“He has clearly got to answer those allegations, as far as I’m concerned.
“I think there will be a level of concern that yet again it is a sort of pattern of behaviour in politics.”
