Boris Johnson has said it is “very sad” that Charlotte Edwardes went public with the claim he squeezed her thigh under the table during a private lunch.
The prime minister has denied the allegation as it threatened to overshadow the Conservative party’s conference in Manchester and its core message of “get Brexit done”.
Johnson suggested critics were focusing on his personal behaviour because they did not want to see the UK leave the EU.
“A lot of people don’t want Brexit to be done,” he told BBC Breakfast on Tuesday morning.
“I think rightly or wrongly they conceive of me as the person who is helping to deliver Brexit, and it is inevitable that I’m going to come under a certain amount of shot and shell.
Asked about Edwardes’ accusations, he said: “They are not true. It’s obviously very sad that someone should make such allegations – they are not true.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme Tuesday morning, Johnson added he did not “minimise the importance of such allegations” or the “importance of the issue”, but repeated his denial.
Edwardes made the claim about Johnson’s behaviour in her first column for The Sunday Times. She said the incident took place at the Spectator magazine’s HQ shortly after Johnson became editor in 1999.
She said: “I’m seated on Johnson’s right; on his left is a young woman I know.
“More wine is poured; more wine is drunk. Under the table I feel Johnson’s hand on my thigh. He gives it a squeeze. His hand is high up my leg and he has enough inner flesh beneath his fingers to make me sit suddenly upright.”
After the lunch, she said she had confided in the young woman who was sitting on the other side of Johnson, who told her: “Oh God, he did exactly the same to me.”
In response to the implication that Edwardes made up her story, comic and author Shappi Khorsandi said she had her own experience with the prime minister.
“I feel duty bound to say that on Question Time years back (before the recording started) BJ squeezed my hand, which rested on my leg, under the table) to ‘reassure’ my nerves,” she tweeted.
“Only mentioning it as I’ve found it bloody annoying that some are saying Charlotte Edwardes made it up. Two other men have done it since (one a leftie, inappropriate squeezing is not just a Tory thing) I was older/more confident and complained. Now shush about ‘lying’.”
Ministers have defended Johnson when questioned about the allegations. Sajid Javid, the chancellor, said he has “full faith” in the prime minister. Nicky Morgan, the culture secretary, said she “believes the prime minster”. Esther McVey, told HuffPost UK that journalists should “go back and check whether it did happen”.
Conservative party chairman James Cleverly told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I know Boris Johnson very well, and if Number 10 say it didn’t happen, I believe that.”
Johnson has also faced allegations about his relationship with American entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri and whether she enjoyed preferential treatment while he was mayor of London.