Boris Johnson's father Stanley Johnson accused of inappropriately touching Tory MP

A senior Conservative MP has accused Boris Johnson's 81-year-old father Stanley Johnson of 'smacking her on the backside' – prompting a young journalist to claim she had also been groped by him.

Former minister Caroline Nokes, 49, said the elder Mr Johnson told her she has 'a lovely seat' during the incident which allegedly took place at the Tory Party conference in Blackpool in 2003 when she was in her early 30s.

The chairman of the Women and Equalities committee was at the time a prospective parliamentary candidate for Romsey and Southampton North, and made the allegation during a panel discussion on Sky News.

She said: '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'.'

Mrs Nokes then said the candidate was Mr Johnson Sr, 81, who later failed to get elected. She added: 'I would have been in my early 30s, so old enough to call it out. I now regard it as a duty... to call out wherever you see it.'

Responding to the allegation, Mr Johnson Sr said: 'I have no recollection of Caroline Nokes at all – but there you go. And no reply... good luck and thanks.'

But now another woman has claimed she was also inappropriately touched by Mr Johnson Sr. New Statesman journalist Ailbhe Rea said: 'Stanley Johnson also groped me at a party at Conservative conference in 2019.

'I am grateful to Caroline Nokes for calling out something that none of us should have to put up with, not least from the Prime Minister's father.'

Ms Rea, who is aged in her mid-20s and grew up Belfast, graduated from Oxford University in 2017 and has worked for the New Statesman as a political correspondent since July 2019.

Today, Home Office minister Damian Hinds said an investigation will be carried out into the allegations 'if that's the appropriate course of action'. And shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds told Sky News: 'Any victim who comes forward we have to treat what they say very sensitively, very carefully.'

It comes as Mr Johnson Sr was photographed not wearing a mask while waiting to board a flight to London at Dubai Airport yesterday. He was pictured standing in line around other passengers who were all wearing masks.

Guardian football journalist Simon Burnton took the picture and tweeted: 'Just back from Dubai, and there was one person on my flight who didn't think masks were for them. It was... Boris Johnson's dad #likefatherlikeson.'

Last year a biography of the Prime Minister claimed Mr Johnson Sr’s late wife Charlotte Johnson Wahl needed hospital treatment after being hit by him in the 1970s. He is said to have deeply regretted the ‘isolated’ incident. A senior Tory MP accused Stanley Johnson, the Prime Minister's father, of inappropriately touching her. Responding to the allegation, he said: 'I have no recollection of Caroline Nokes at all – but there you go. And no reply... good luck and thanks' Senior Conservative MP Caroline Nokes (left), 49, and New Statesman journalist Ailbhe Rea (right) have both accused Stanley Johnson of inappropriately touching them

Asked about the allegations, Mr Hinds told Times Radio: 'I don't know obviously about the ... I've heard this morning, as you have, or overnight, about this, about these allegations.

'I can say that, overall, in terms of the safety of women and girls, and being free from harassment wherever they are at home, at work, in the street, and online, this is an absolute top priority for the Government. 'But I'm not joining a link between that and at this because we don't know, but if there is an investigation to be had, then, of course, that will happen.'

He added: 'If there is an investigation to be had, if that is the appropriate course of action, then of course that will happen.'

Ms Nokes made the allegation during a cross-party panel on how to confront violence against women in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder. She added: 'I now regard it as a duty, an absolute duty, to call out wherever you see it.

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My view: The same Stanley Johnson who allegedly broke his wife's nose, not sure why anyone is shocked that he allegedly groped two women.