Westminster has forgotten its #MeToo promises – but the press is too busy chasing titillating scoops to notice

The fact that Caroline Nokes’s claim about Stanley Johnson isn’t being taken seriously enough shouldn’t surprise anyone, says Marie Le Conte

Conservative MP Caroline Nokes told Sky News that the prime minister’s father, Stanley Johnson, had smacked her on the bottom at an event (Getty)

Last Monday, Conservative MP Caroline Nokes told Sky News that Stanley Johnson, the prime minister’s father, had once smacked her “on the backside about as hard as he could” at an event. The story rose and fell as Downing Street declined to comment and Johnson told The Sun he had “no recollection” of Nokes.

On Sunday, she discussed the incident on Times Radio, and accused some members of the press of having a somewhat twisted sense of priorities.

“I’ve seen a number of journalists try to trawl my past sex life as some sort of defence for someone doing that,” she said. “We are literally in a culture that is trying to turn it on the woman, make it her fault, blame her, accusing her of making it a political vendetta.”