Stanley Johnson accused of inappropriately touching prominent Conservative MP Politics News

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Stanley Johnson, a former MEP and father of the prime minister, has been accused of inappropriately touching a senior Conservative MP.

Caroline Knox, a former minister and chair of the Women’s Choice and Equality Committee, said the incident occurred at the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool in 2003, when she was in her early 30s.

Ms Knox, who has represented Rumsey and Southampton North in the House of Commons since 2010, was at the time the likely parliamentary candidate for the constituency before the 2005 general election.

Photo: Caroline Knox, former minister and chair of the Women’s Selection and Equality Committee

She told Sky News, “I can remember a really outstanding guy – at the time he was the Tory candidate for Tynbridge in Devon – who slapped me on the ass as hard as he could and said, ‘Oh, Rumsey, you have a pretty figure seat’.”

The candidate was Stanley Johnson, who later failed to be elected.

Sky News has contacted Mr Johnson for comment on the allegation. He said, “I don’t remember Caroline Knox at all – but there you are. And no response…Hi, good luck and thanks.”

“I would have been in my early thirties, old enough, old enough to call it that,” Knox said, describing her memories.

She added, “Now I consider it an absolute duty and duty to call out wherever you see it. Being the annoying, annoying and aggressive woman in the room because if I’m not ready to do it, my daughter will win ‘Don’t be ready to do it… get to the point where you go’ with this , I will not put ‘.”

The comments were made in the context of a cross-party panel discussion, hosted by Sky News, among four prominent female lawmakers on how to address violence against women in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder.

Photo: Stanley Johnson, a former member of the European Parliament and father of the Prime Minister

The debate, which also included Labor MPs Jess Phillips and Rosina Allen-Khan, and Conservative MP Faye Jones, was aimed at examining their views as lawmakers on what to do.

But during the conversation, each of the politicians also described their own experiences.

In addition to her account of Johnson, Ms. Knox said she was molested as an 11-year-old schoolgirl by a group of men.

Ms Phillips, the shadow minister for domestic violence and protection and a former contender for Labor leadership, said she was assaulted by her former boss at a party.

Photo: Skybeth Political Editor Rigby hosts a discussion on violence against women with Representatives Jess Phillips, Caroline Knox, Rosina Allen Khan and Faye Jones

Dr Rosina Allen Khan, Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Emergency Physician, said she was harassed by a senior physician when she was a junior physician.

Faye Jones, who was elected Conservative MP for Brecon and Radnorshire in 2019, described how a man drew her when she was 17.

The four women told Sky News they believe overt sexual harassment should be made a specific crime in the upcoming legislation.

Sky News understands a move to create an offense within the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which is currently before Parliament, with the support of Home Secretary Priti Patel, but it has yet to gain approval from Downing Street.

You can read the full analysis and watch an extended report on Sky News from Tuesday morning

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