TV producer and writer accuses Tory mayoral candidate of groping her a decade ago

Daniel Korski, who is a Conservative London mayoral candidate, has been accused by TV producer Daisy Goodwin of groping her in Downing Street a decade ago.

While writing a column for The Times, the 61-year-old Goodwin alleged that the former No 10 adviser groped her at a meeting in Downing Street in 2013.

She claimed that Korski put his hand on her breast during a meeting at Downing Street. The incident happened when he was a special adviser to David Cameron.

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The TV producer said that she met Korski at Downing Street to discuss a possible TV project, but she found his behaviour during the meeting "odd" and also said that "it was not a particularly fruitful discussion".

In the column, she wrote: "When we both stood up at the end of the meeting and went to the door, the spad [special adviser] 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," she added.

"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 eighties I knew how to deal with gropers," she further said.

Goodwin also wrote that when it happened, what she felt was "surprise and some humiliation". She added that she was a successful award-winning TV producer with 40 or so people working for her, and this was not behaviour that she would have tolerated in her office.

Explaining the situation and how she felt, Goodwin wrote, "Could I have misinterpreted his action? I have thought about this a lot, but the answer is always no. He, like some other men in power, must be the sort of man who gets a kick out of surprising women in this way."

Well, Goodwin has spoken about the incident previously also when she first went public in 2017. However, she hadn't revealed any name. She said that she was naming him now because "if this is a pattern of behaviour, then the people of London deserve to know".

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Korski denied allegations

Korski has made the shortlist to be the Conservative Party's candidate for next year's London mayoral race. As quoted by The Guardian, a spokesperson for the 46-year-old Korski said: "In the strongest possible terms, Dan categorically denies any allegation of inappropriate behaviour whatsoever."

(With inputs from agencies)

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