No one wants to take responsibility for No 10 ‘groper’ complaints, warns accuser

A woman who accused ex-London Conservative mayoral candidate Daniel Korksi of groping her in No 10 says neither the government nor the Tory party will take responsibility for dealing with women’s complaints.

And screenwriter and novelist Daisy Goodwin said his then employer the Cabinet Office said it was unable to help.

Mr Korski pulled out of the race to be the Tory candidate for the London mayoralty on Wednesday, after Ms Goodwin identified him in allegations she had previously made about an anonymous man who deliberately touched her breast.

Now, writing exclusively for The Independent, she writes that since identifying him, she had been contacted by several other women who have described misconduct by him, but that they were afraid that speaking out would damage their career prospects as they would be labelled as troublemakers.

She writes: “When the prime minister’s spokesman was asked about allegations, he said that the PM urged women to come forward, but I say in reply who are they meant to come forward to?

“As I discovered when I tried to make my formal complaint, no one wants to take responsibility.

“Conservative headquarters said it was for a matter for the employer, and the Cabinet Office who employed Korski at the time said that it was a matter for the Met, and that they could do nothing because Korski no longer worked for No 10.”

Mr Korski, who categorically denies allegations of inappropriate behaviour and says he will cooperate with any investigation, was working as a special adviser to then-prime minister David Cameron in 2013, when he and Ms Goodwin met in Downing Street.

The writer and television producer wrote four years later about what had happened but did not reveal his name.

However, she says he was known among women around Westminster for similar behaviour.

“I think the real question now is not whether justice has been done, but why did it take so long? From what I can gather Korski’s behaviour towards women was not exactly a state secret,” she writes.

If Conservative Central Office had done even the smallest amount of investigation, they might have “saved themselves the embarrassment of the past week”, she says.

“But they chose not to do that, or possibly they thought that because I hadn’t named Korski in the past I would be reluctant to do so now. In other words, they had already priced in Korski’s behaviour.”

On Friday it was reported that Ms Goodwin’s allegations will not be investigated by the Cabinet Office. A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “The Cabinet Office has been approached by an individual in relation to this matter and they have been directed to the relevant authorities for such allegations.”

Lawyers acting on behalf of Daniel Korski asked for their client’s response to these allegations to be included prominently in this article: “Mr Korski categorically denies any allegation of inappropriate behaviour towards Ms Goodwin or any other individual.”