Minister asked about NI reporters’ groping allegations against Stanley Johnson says she likely slapped him

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A British Cabinet minister said she would likely have slapped Prime Minister Stanley Johnson’s father if he touched her inappropriately, after a reporter and NI MP accused him of the alleged behavior.

Ilbhe Rea, a Belfast-born reporter for New Statesman magazine, accused Mr Johnson of groping her at a 2019 Tory conference in Manchester, following first allegations by MP Caroline Nokes.

Mr Johnson declined to comment on the allegations. The 81-year-old says he has “no recollection” of either incident, while the Conservative Party has yet to say whether an investigation will be opened.

Ms Nokes said the eldest Mr Johnson had slapped her hard on the back and said she had “a nice seat” in 2003 before running for Tory MP.

Responding to the allegation on Twitter, Ms Rea said: ‘Stanley Johnson also groped me at a party at a Conservative conference in 2019.

“I am grateful to Caroline Nokes for speaking out against something that none of us should have to put up with, especially from the Prime Minister’s father.”

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who is Boris Johnson’s International Trade Secretary, praised Caroline Nokes for speaking out against the alleged behavior of the former Tory MEP.

Ms Trevelyan said women have had to deal with “the occasional sexism, the wandering hand” for too long.

Ms Trevelyan said she was “very, very happy” that Ms Nokes raised the allegation, adding: “It should always be called out”.

When asked if Mr Johnson would be investigated, Ms Trevelyan told Sky News: ‘I will let Caroline work with the party on this, but we have a strong system in place and I really hope she can fix it with the party machine.

“But more broadly, this is something that all of us who are women not only in politics but in all kinds of lives have for too long had to tolerate the kind of flippant, wandering hand sexism that is completely unacceptable. “

And asked what she would have done in response to the alleged touching, she said: “At the time, I probably would have slapped him, which probably isn’t a better answer either, but it would have been an instinctive response from me and I think Caroline would have shown great personal restraint if she had quietly walked away. “

Ms Nokes, chair of the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, suggested that the Prime Minister’s father inappropriately touched her during the 2003 conference in Blackpool.

At the time, she was preparing to campaign for the Romsey constituency in Hampshire in the 2005 election, in which Mr Johnson ran for Teignbridge, Devon.

“I remember a very prominent man who patted me on the back as hard as he could and said, ‘Oh, Romsey, you have a great place,’” Ms. Nokes at Sky News.

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for an investigation either by the Tories or by the police.

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