Formal complaint submitted over claim Tory groped woman in Downing Street
A woman who claims she was groped by a Tory mayoral hopeful says she has submitted a formal complaint about him.
TV producer Daisy Goodwin accused Daniel Korski, a former aide to David Cameron, of touching her inappropriately at a meeting in Downing Street a decade ago.
Mr Korski has said it is "categorically" untrue and vowed to stay in the race to become the Conservative candidate for London mayor.
He said he had told the party about the allegation during the interview process.
Ms Goodwin named Mr Korski in articles she wrote for The Times and Daily Mail, and now says she has made a complaint to the Cabinet Office.
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Daisy Goodwin said the alleged incident happened 10 years ago (PA)She posted a screenshot on Instagram appearing to show a Cabinet Office email receipt of her complaint.
The email had the subject line: "Formal complaint about Daniel Korski Urgent".
The Times also reported that Ms Goodwin had called the Cabinet Office on Tuesday to make a complaint, alongside sending an email.
"Trying to complain to the Cabinet Office is harder than getting a BT engineer to your home in the same lunar month," she told the paper.
The Cabinet Office today declined to confirm whether a formal complaint had been made.
Children and families minister Claire Coutinho said she had paused her support for Mr Korski and said that any complaint should be investigated "swiftly".
Tory minister Claire Coutinho said she had "paused" her support for Mr Korski (PA)"At the same time, this is an allegation. He's roundly denied it," she told Sky News.
"If there is a complaint in the system, it needs to be followed up swiftly so we can find the facts and see what's happened, but I do think it's a very serious and concerning allegation."
Harrow MP Robert Halfon had already paused his backing for the mayoral hopeful in the wake of the allegation, according to reports.
Mr Korski used an interview with TalkTV to say that he had met with Ms Goodwin, but he denied that anything improper had occurred.
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"I didn't do what's been alleged. I absolutely didn't do that. Ten years ago, when it happened, nothing was said to me. Seven years ago, when this first came out, nobody alleged anything to me.
"I just didn't do what's being alleged," he said on Tuesday.
Mr Korski said the allegation was categorically untrue (Getty Images Europe)"I've had countless meetings in Number 10, have had thousands of meetings since then in my business career, I treat everybody with the utmost respect, I work hard to create an empowering and respectful environment, and I sit appropriately in chairs, and I try to treat everybody with respect in order to get the best out of a professional situation.
"I don't know how she could have come away with that perception.
"I certainly didn't leave the meeting feeling that I had done anything wrong, and subsequently even wrote to her, congratulating her on some of her professional success. But I don't really know why she felt the way she did."
In the interview he acknowledged that the allegation had been raised as part of the process for choosing the Conservatives' candidate to become London mayor.
"During the process, I was asked about if there were any outstanding issues the party may be aware of. I said to the party, seven years ago there was a story. I was never named in the story.
"As far as I know, there was no investigation. But I did mention this to the party."
The Conservative Party said yesterday that it was not investigating the claim and Downing Street said No 10 was a safe environment for women.
Downing Street 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 allegation, was a special adviser to then-prime minister David Cameron.
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."
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