Daniel Korski under fresh pressure to withdraw from Tories’ London mayoral candidate selection – UK politics live | Politics

Claire Coutinho, the education minister, was giving interviews on behalf of the government this morning. In the past she has praised Daniel Korski’s “clear vision for London”, but this morning she said her support for him was “on pause” given the allegations against him. She said:

I would say I’d be on pause at the moment because lots of things are happening.

Asked to confirm she was suspending her support, she said:

Yes, because I think we need to see what’s happened.

But, at the same time, this is an allegation. He’s roundly denied it.

If there is a complaint in the system, it needs to be followed up swiftly so we can find the facts and see what’s happened, but I do think it’s a very serious and concerning allegation.

Good morning. When the Conservative party announced the names of the three people on the shortlist to be their candidate for London mayor next year, they got minimal media coverage. The best known candidate, Paul Scully, the minister for London, was off the list, and the three people still in the contest were relatively obscure. “Furious London Tories fear low-wattage mayor shortlist looks like surrender” was the headline on our (very good) analysis by Peter Walker and Pippa Crerar.

But the contest has now become headline news after Daniel Korski, a policy adviser in No 10 when David Cameron was PM, was accused by Daisy Goodwin, a TV producer, of groping her in Downing Street 10 years ago. Korski has strongly denied the allegation.

Goodwin named Korksi in an article in the Times. This morning she gave her first broadcast interview since writing that piece, and it will increase pressure on Korski to withdraw from the contest.

Since I wrote my piece, I have been contacted by other women with some very interesting stories, which clearly I can’t talk about for legal reasons. But I feel entirely justified in having written the piece and naming him.

The Today programme said it put this to Korski’s team, and they said he welcomed any investigation into what he had done. They also stressed that he had categorically denied Goodwin’s allegation.

I’m really surprised you’re asking me that, Martha. Yes, it happened to me 10 years ago, but when something like this happens to you, you know that it happened to you because you were there, you felt it, you felt amazed, shocked and rather humiliated. To ask me if I’m certain is to as me if I’m making it up. That’s not the case.

When it was put to her that Korski had denied it categorically, Goodwin replied:

Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he. If he had come forward and said, ‘Oh, I’m really sorry, something like this, I might have inadvertently touched her’, that would be a different story. But the fact that he has categorically denied it is, to me, bizarre.

• She said she tried yesterday to make an official complaint about this – but did not have much luck. She said she called No 10 yesterday and eventually got through to someone who said they could not take a message. Then she emailed the Cabinet Office, and she received an out-of-office message with a note about who to contact in an emergency. She did not get a reply until the Times ran a story saying she was submitting a complaint, and then an official did get in touch, she said.

Here is the agenda for the day.

Morning: Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, holds a meeting with regulators to discuss what they can do to keep prices down.

9am: Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, gives a speech to the Housing 23 conference in Manchester.

9am: Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, takes part in an LBC phone-in.

12pm: Rishi Sunak faces Keir Starmer at PMQs.

After 3.30pm: Peers begin the report stage debate on the illegal migration bill.

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