A journalist has described Stanley Johnson as “a little over-friendly” and “indeed handsy” amid allegations the former Conservative politician groped an MP and a political journalist.
In the tweet, GB News presenter Isabel Oakeshott seemed to come to the defence of the “charming” Mr Johnson amid the allegations, writing that “officers should focus their limited resources on investigating real crimes.”
Mr Johnson, 81, allegedly assaulted two women, Conservative MP Caroline Nokes who said he had smacked her “on the backside about as hard as he could” and political journalist Ailbhe Rea, who said he “groped me.”
The tweet was met with backlash on social media as Ms Oakeshott was accused of downplaying allegations of sexual assault.
Sky News political correspondent Kate McCann wrote that although Ms Oakeshott may be “ok with someone being handsy”, other women would find that “uncomfortable”, especially if they are younger or less established.
She added: “Your tweet suggests they ought to just ignore it - it’s their problem if they’re offended, not his for being ‘over-friendly’. It diminishes them.”
Labour MP Charlotte Nichols also responded to the tweet saying: “Being ‘handsy’ is indeed a ‘real crime’ and it's grim to see it minimised in this way.”
Boris Johnson’s father ignored questions from journalists as he left his north west London home this week. He had previously told Sky News: “I have no recollection of Caroline Nokes at all – but there you go.”
Labour has urged the Conservatives to launch an investigation into Mr Johnson while the Conservative Environment Network (CEN) – an independent forum of campaigners linked to the party, of which Mr Johnson is international ambassador – said the alleged behaviour is “not acceptable”.
The group said in a statement: “We take all allegations of inappropriate behaviour very seriously. We have clear internal processes for managing allegations of this nature, and these are currently being followed. The alleged behaviour is not acceptable to CEN.”
In an exchange in the House of Commons yesterday, Ms Nokes questioned the prime minister about the government’s policy on sexual harassment. Without mentioning her own claims against his father, the MP asked if women would have more confidence “if public sexual harassment was a specific crime”, and if early intervention might stop “those harassing women becoming sex offenders?”
Ms Nokes made her allegation during a Sky News cross-party discussion with other female MPs about how to confront violence against women.
She said the alleged incident happened in Blackpool while she was a prospective candidate for the Romsey and Southampton North seat – which she later won in 2010.
“I can remember a really prominent man – at the time the Conservative candidate for Teignbridge in Devon – smacking me on the backside about as hard as he could and going, ‘oh, Romsey, you’ve got a lovely seat’,” she said.
When asked who that was, she said: “Stanley Johnson did that to me, ahead of the ’05 election.”
Ms Nokes added: “I didn’t do anything and I feel ashamed by that... now I probably would.”
