Has Boris Johnson’s ‘Women Problem’ Finally Caught Up With Him?

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When Theresa May was asked in early 2017 to respond to Donald Trump’s  infamous boast that he could “grab” women “by the pussy”, her shock at even being asked the question live on TV was palpable. May duly told Sky News’s fearless Sophy Ridge that Trump’s words were “unacceptable”, but her irritation was unmistakeable (and she apparently black-balled the programme for bouncing her with the quote, but that’s another story).

Later that same year, Britain’s second female PM effectively sacked both Damian Green and Michael Fallon over their accounts of various pornography use and sexual misconduct. Fallon’s departure followed a phone call from journalist Jane Merrick, who had told No.10 he had lunged at her and tried to kiss her during a lunch. 

Today, Boris Johnson faced serious allegations from another journalist (we hacks and politicians are often at lunches and dinners, it’s part of the job). Initially, there seemed to be a no-comment approach from No.10 to Charlotte Edwardes’ detailed account of him grabbing her thigh under a dinner table. This was despite her writing in the Sunday Times: “His hand is high up my leg and he has enough inner flesh beneath his fingers to make me sit suddenly upright.” And he allegedly did exactly the same thing to another woman sitting next to him.

The account matters because this goes beyond the countless stories about Johnson’s marital infidelities. His “rogueish” conduct has always assumed to be “priced in”, in that politico-city-markets jargon. Of course his private life is none of our business and most voters don’t give a damn. But there is a big difference between consensual affairs and allegedly non-consensual groping. 

The seriousness of the charge maybe why Downing Street had a spokesman tonight go on record to say “this allegation is untrue”. Edwardes has hit back with a tweet that makes plain she stands by every word: “If the prime minister doesn’t recollect the incident then clearly I have a better memory than he does.”

In many ways, this is a depressingly familiar #metoo moment. Are Number 10 relying on the public not believing one woman’s account? Further problems may come if other women now come forward and talk about even more recent similar incidents. Health secretary Matt Hancock tonight told Channel 4 News: “I know Charlotte well and I entirely trust what she has to say”. Former colleague Amber Rudd tweeted “I agree with Matt”.

Note, however, how this Tory conference reacts to such allegations. When Hancock was asked about them, one female audience member heckled the question. And when Liz Truss was asked about it at a fringe, more heckling of the questioner ensued. Just like Trump supporters claimed the “pussy” story was just a distraction, Johnson today himself tried to dismiss stories about him and businesswoman Jennier Arcuri by saying they were politically motivated. “If you’re in my position, you’ve got to expect a lot of shot and shell,” is how he put it. Expect more Tories, and Leave voters, to suggest new claims about his personal conduct are an attempt to stop Brexit.

As Margaret Thatcher’s former spokesman Bernard Ingham told the Sunday Express today: “I would love to see Boris conduct an election from Pentonville. It would be so wonderful that he’d gone there defending a majority decision of the nation so they put him in jail, cheeky beggars.” 

One of those who knows Johnson best recently told me that the reason he can sound so evasive on most subjects is because he has spent a lifetime refusing to answer questions about his private life. Dissembling and keeping things |private” are now part of his political DNA. Maybe that’s why he privately told the cabinet this week he regretted his response on Jo Cox. It’s almost certainly why he privately apologised to the Queen about prorogation.

One former cabinet minister believes Johnson “thinks women are lesser” in many ways. But will any of it affect him at the polls? There is some polling evidence he is less popular among women voters, yet overall he could be on course for the Commons majority he so craves. What’s new tonight, after the pushback at Edwardes, is not just the suspicion that he lies to women, but that he now lies about them.