Daniel Korski’s accuser may go to police as Cabinet Office fails to investigate groping claims

A woman who claimed she was groped by the former Tory mayoral hopeful Daniel Korski when he worked at Downing Street has said she is considering going to the police after the Cabinet Office told her it would not investigate her allegations.

Daisy Goodwin, a novelist and TV producer, also criticised the response of Rishi Sunak, who had said through a spokesperson that he would encourage anyone with complaints against former staff members to come forward.

She said: “Who are they supposed to come forward to? And what will happen? I don’t think there is really a failsafe way for women to come forward about the behaviour of predatory men in Westminster and Whitehall at the moment.”

She was informed by a senior official at the Cabinet Office that there were two options: to refer it to the police if it was a criminal matter, or to do nothing because Korski no longer worked in government.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “The Cabinet Office has been approached by an individual in relation to this matter and they have been directed to the relevant authorities for such allegations.”

Korski, who denies the claim, dropped out of the race to be the Conservative mayoral candidate for London on Wednesday after Downing Street and senior Conservatives described the groping allegations made against him as “very serious”.

Goodwin had alleged in a piece for the Times that Korski had put his hand on her breast during a meeting at Downing Street when he was an adviser to David Cameron.

She submitted a formal complaint to the Cabinet Office about Korski’s alleged behaviour on Tuesday evening.

Speaking to the Guardian on Friday, she added: “My main concern is that there is a mechanism for women to make complaints.

“The response I’ve had to that from women who have contacted me has been incredible. Out of the hundreds of emails I’ve had there was literally only one in which someone asked: ‘why are you doing this?’ Everyone else was overwhelmingly positive.”

Korski, a tech entrepreneur, said this week that while he still “categorically” denied the claim, he had decided, “with a heavy heart”, to step down from the race as “the news agenda is becoming a distraction from the race and the Conservative party”.

Sunak’s spokesperson has said the prime minister would encourage anyone with complaints against former staff members to come forward, but dodged questions on whether Sunak thought Korski should suspend his campaign.

Goodwin said she felt “entirely justified” in naming Korski, a decade after the alleged incident took place, as she said more women had come forward with “very interesting stories”.

Pressed during an interview with the BBC this week if she was “absolutely certain” the alleged event had taken place, Goodwin said: “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.”