Tory mayoral hopeful accused of groping TV producer in Downing Street
Former No 10 adviser Daniel Korski denies allegations ‘in strongest possible terms’
A leading Conservative candidate for London mayor has been accused of sexually assaulting a TV producer in Downing Street a decade ago.
Daniel Korski, a favourite to become the Tory candidate for next May’s contest, allegedly groped Daisy Goodwin, who created ITV drama Victoria.
Ms Goodwin accused Mr Korski of touching her breast after a meeting to discuss a potential TV show about trade.
Mr Korski, a special adviser to David Cameron at the time, has denied “any allegation of inappropriate behaviour in the strongest possible terms”.
Ms Goodwin went public about the incident in 2017, but at the time decided to not name Mr Korski.
She said she was naming him now because of his candidacy to become London’s mayor.
“It is not fair on the great majority of men who treat women decently to allow a man who clearly has a problem with impulse control to reach a position of power,” she said.
Writing in The Times, Ms Goodwin urged others who may have “had similar experiences” with Mr Korski to come forward.
She added: “I write not out of revenge but to send out a signal to him, and to all men who mistreat women.
“Don’t think that you will get away with it.”
Ms Goodwin, also a bestselling author, said that revelations about disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, and the subsequent #MeToo movement which followed, made her realise that “ignoring this sort of behaviour was actually enabling men to carry on with this kind of unsavoury treatment of women”.
In the article, Ms Goodwin said she met Mr Korski at a party and organised a meeting to discuss a potential show about small and medium-sized businesses exporting globally.
She waited an hour for the meeting, describing how the “sweaty, testosterone-laden reek” of Downing Street reminded her of the boys’ sixth form she had attended.
When Mr Korski eventually “bounced in”, the pair sat in the building’s Thatcher drawing room.
Ms Goodwin described how Mr Korski, 15 years her junior, made an “awkwardly flirtatious” comment about her sunglasses, before resting his feet on the edge of her chair and “leaning back so that I could get a clear view of his crotch”.
The meeting was subsequently “not particularly fruitful”.
As the pair stood up at the end of the meeting, Ms Goodwin said Mr Korski stepped toward her 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 said.
A spokesperson for Mr Korski said: “In the strongest possible terms, Dan categorically denies any allegation of inappropriate behaviour whatsoever.”
Mr Korski, the 46-year-old son of Polish refugees, is one of three Conservative candidates on a shortlist to challenge Sadiq Khan in next year’s race.
London Assembly Member (AM) Susan Hall and barrister Mozammel Hossain KC are also competing for the nomination.
Mr Korski is seen as a frontrunner after Paul Scully, the government’s minister for London, failed to make it on to the Conservative shortlist. But the allegations represent a blow to his campaign and raise fresh questions about Mr Scully’s failure to make the shortlist.
He is running on a platform of implementing a new tourist tax to pay for more police, including setting up a minor crimes constabulary to work closely with local communities, and building denser housing in central London.
His campaign has been endorsed by levelling up secretary Michael Gove and senior Tories Robert Buckland and Nadhim Zahawi.
Tory members will be able to vote for their preferred candidate between July 4-18, and the winner is expected to be announced on July 19.