Senior Tory calls for ‘zero tolerance’ approach to sexual assault after Daniel Korski groping claims

Caroline Nokes has called for political candidates to sign a ‘zero tolerance’ charter before being allowed to run for office

Caroline Nokes said Daniel Korski’s candidacy for London mayor was like a ‘cloud hanging over women in politics’ (PA Archive)

A senior Tory has called for a “zero tolerance” approach to sexual assault for future political candidates in the wake of groping claims against mayoral hopeful Daniel Korski.

Caroline Nokes, the chair of Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee, said Mr Korski’s candidacy was like a “cloud hanging over women in politics” and called for all candidates to sign a code of conduct or charter before being allowed to run for office.

She said this would “make sure it is explicit what sort of behaviour will not be tolerated”.

Her comments came after Mr Korski quit as a candidate for the Conservative nomination to contest next year’s mayoral race.

The move followed allegations, which Mr Korski “categorically” denied, made by TV producer Daisy Goodwin who accused the former front-runner of groping her after a meeting in Downing Street a decade ago.

Shortly before he stepped down, Ms Goodwin said three more women had contacted her with “similar experiences” since she went public on Monday night.

In a statement, Mr Korski said he had decided “with a heavy heart” to withdraw from the race.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Ms Nokes said it was “the right decision for him, for the Conservative Party, and in fact for women in politics”.

“You can’t have clouds like this hanging over us,” she said.

Daniel Korski denies allegations he groped Daisy Goodwin at No 10 (PA/Getty)

She said the political world had been rocked by a series of “really unpleasant” allegations in the past year, including Tory MP Neil Parish watching porn in the Commons as well as other MPs using class A drugs and facing allegations of “inappropriate touching”.

Asked if she thought the vetting process for political candidates was rigorous enough, Ms Nokes said: “No, I don’t.”

She added: “It is important that all political parties work together to draw up a code of conduct for future candidates … to make sure it is absolutely explicit what sort of behaviour will not be tolerated.

“And then candidates be required to sign up to some sort of code of conduct or charter before they’re ever allowed to run for office.

“It is really important that all parties work together to make sure that we don’t see a recurrence of this sort of behaviour, this sort of allegation in the next parliament.

“We’ve got 12 months now to sort it out.”

Mr Korski admitted that he told Tory HQ about Ms Goodwin’s groping claim against him but said was put on the shortlist for the mayoral race anyway.

Ms Nokes added: “We need to have a zero tolerance approach to inappropriate behaviour by men in politics towards women.”