Daniel Korski: Tory London mayor hopeful quits race after groping allegation

Published

2 years ago

June 28, 2023

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Daniel Korski has quit the race to be the Tory candidate for London mayor after a TV producer accused him of groping her a decade ago.

The former Downing Street adviser said he was pulling out of the race “with a heavy heart” as he continued to deny the allegation made by Daisy Goodwin.

Ms Goodwin said she was “glad” he had withdrawn as it “shows that women can speak out against misbehaviour in the workplace and be believed”.

Politics latest: Tory mayoral race down to two after Korski withdrawal

In a statement announcing his decision, Mr Korski said: “I categorically deny the allegation against me. Nothing was ever put to me formally 10 years ago. Nor seven years ago when the allegation was alluded to.

“No investigation has ever taken place. I have been clear I would welcome and constructively participate in any investigation.

“However, the pressure on my family because of this false and unproven allegation and the inability to get a hearing for my message of ‘The London Dream’ makes it impossible for my campaign to carry on.”

In a message to his campaign team, Mr Korski said he wanted to address the “troubling state of our political landscape”.

He claimed “dirty tactics, smear campaigns and underhanded strategies have plagued this process, threatening the integrity and honesty that should define our party”.

Accuser ‘feels entirely justified’

Ms Goodwin wrote in The Times earlier this week about her claim that Mr Korski groped her following a meeting 10 years ago in Downing Street.

Following his decision to pull out of the mayoral race, she said: “I am glad he has withdrawn – it shows that women can speak out against misbehaviour in the workplace and be believed.”

Ms Goodwin had earlier said that “other women” had since been in contact with her about some “very interesting stories, which clearly I can’t talk about for legal reasons”.

“I feel entirely justified in having written a piece and naming him,” she added.

At the time of the alleged incident, Mr Korski was working as an adviser to then prime minister David Cameron.

Ms Goodwin said she had only come forward to name Mr Korski this year because he was standing for public office.

She did, however, write about the allegation in 2017 – albeit without naming Mr Korski.

Korski ‘told Tory party about allegation during vetting’

After he was accused by Ms Goodwin, Mr Korski was asked if the allegation had been disclosed to the Conservative Party in his vetting to be a mayoral candidate.

He told TalkTV: “Yeah, during the process, I was asked about if there were any outstanding issues the party may be aware of.

“And I said to the party, seven years ago, there was a story. I was never named in the story.

“As far as I know, there was no investigation. But I did mention this to the party.”

Tory members will vote from 4 to 18 July on their preferred choice for the London mayoral election next year, with the winner announced on 19 July.

The race will see Ms Hall and Mozammel Hossain face down head-to-head, the Conservative Party confirmed, with no new candidates added.

One of Mr Korski’s backers told Sky News that he had done the “right thing” in the “developing circumstances”.

Meanwhile, Susan Hall, one of the other Tory mayoral hopefuls, said Mr Korski “fought a hard campaign with lots of fresh ideas and I appreciate his contribution to the debate”.

“The allegations against him are serious and it is right that they are investigated in the proper way,” she added.

“My focus remains on making my own positive case to members and Londoners in this contest.”

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Pope ‘deeply saddened’ by deaths at sole Catholic church in Gaza after Israeli strike

Published

8 hours ago

July 17, 2025

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Pope 'deeply saddened' by deaths at sole Catholic church in Gaza after Israeli strike

The Pope has said he is “deeply saddened” by the deaths of three people in an Israeli strike on the only Catholic church in Gaza.

A further nine people were wounded when the Gaza’s Holy Family Church was hit, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement.

“On behalf of the entire Church of the Holy Land, we extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved families, and from here, we offer our prayers for the swift and full recovery of the wounded,” the statement reads.

“The Latin Patriarchate strongly condemns this tragedy and this targeting of innocent civilians and of a sacred place.

“However, this tragedy is not greater or more terrible than the many others that have befallen Gaza.”

Parish priest Father Gabriele Romanelli, an Argentinian who used to regularly update the late Pope Francis about the conflict in Gaza, was lightly injured in the attack.

In a telegram for the victims, Pope Leo said he was “deeply saddened” and called for “an immediate ceasefire”.

The Pope expressed his “profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation and enduring peace in the region,” according to the telegram, which was signed by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, told the Vatican News website that the church was shelled by a tank.

“What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF says by mistake, but we are not sure about this, they hit the Church directly, the Church of the Holy Family, the Latin Church”, he said

The church was sheltering both Christians and Muslims, including a number of children with disabilities, according to Fadel Naem, acting director of Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the wounded.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it was “aware of reports regarding damage caused to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City and casualties at the scene. The circumstances of the incident are under review”.

“The IDF makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites,
and regrets any damage caused to them,” the statement added.

Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement on X that the results of the investigation would be published.

It also said the country did not target churches or religious sites and regretted harm to them or civilians.

The previous pope, Francis, spoke almost daily with Gaza church. In the last 18 months of his life, Francis would often call the church in the Gaza Strip to see how people huddled inside were coping with a devastating war.

At least 20 more people were killed on Thursday by Israeli attacks across the besieged enclave, medics said.

Throughout the 21-month war, more than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military campaign, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

Israel launched a retaliatory campaign against Hamas following the militant group’s 7 October 2023 attacks, during which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.

World

Syria’s president vows to protect Druze population after Israel airstrikes – as new ceasefire begins

Published

8 hours ago

July 17, 2025

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Syria's president vows to protect Druze population after Israel airstrikes - as new ceasefire begins

Syria’s president has said protecting the rights of the Druze population is “our priority” after Israel warned it would destroy forces attacking the minority.

In a televised statement early today, Ahmed al Sharaa told the Druze “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.

Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.

Following the president’s announcement and a ceasefire agreement, Syrian government forces on Thursday largely withdrew from the volatile southern province of Sweida.

Under the terms of the agreement, Druze factions and clerics have been appointed to maintain internal security.

As the violence escalated in Sweida, Israel launched airstrikes, including attacks on Wednesday on the defence ministry in Damascus and a target near the presidential palace.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has pledged to “act resolutely against any terrorist threat on its borders”.

The Druze population follow an offshoot of Islam and are estimated to number about one million, spread between Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

Sharaa – Syria’s interim leader after President Assad fled last year – gave a televised statement on Wednesday telling the Druze “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.

“We are not among those who fear the war,” he added.

“We have spent our lives facing challenges and defending our people, but we have put the interests of the Syrians before chaos and destruction,” said the president.

He also claimed Israel has “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime”.

Israel has accused the Syrian regime of being barely disguised jihadists – despite warming ties with Western countries such as the UK and US.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as of Wednesday morning, more than 300 people had been killed in the flare-up of violence.

Around 1,000 Druze people broke through a fence into southern Syria on Wednesday in a bid to help, according to The Times of Israel.

Prime Minister Netanyahu urged people not to cross into Syria and Israeli military chief of staff Eyal Zamir warned they would not “allow southern Syria to become a terror stronghold”.

The UN Security Council will discuss the situation today, despite the US secretary of state saying yesterday that America had brokered an end to the violence.

“We have engaged all the parties involved in the clashes in Syria,” Marco Rubio said on social media.

“We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight.”

The intervention appeared to have an immediate effect.

The situation was calm on Thursday morning, according to Reuters sources in the area.

World

Buddhist monk sex scandal grips Thailand as woman arrested

Published

14 hours ago

July 17, 2025

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Buddhist monk sex scandal grips Thailand as woman arrested

A sex scandal has rocked Thailand’s Buddhist clergy after a woman allegedly enticed a string of monks into having sex with her and then blackmailed them.

At least nine abbots and senior monks have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said.

Wilawan Emsawat, in her mid-30s, is accused of enticing senior monks into having sex with her and then pressuring them into making large payments to cover it up.

Thai monks are largely members of the Theravada sect, which requires them to be celibate and refrain from even touching a woman.

Several monks transferred large amounts of money after Wilawan initiated romantic relationships with them, police said -her bank accounts received around 385 million baht (£8.8m) in the past three years, with most of that spent on gambling websites.

Wilawan was arrested at her home in Nonthaburi province, north of the capital Bangkok, on charges including extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods.

Thai media reported a search of her mobile phones revealed tens of thousands of photos and videos, as well as numerous chat logs indicating intimacy with several monks, many of which could be used for blackmail.

An investigation was launched last month after an abbot of a famous temple in Bangkok abruptly left the monkhood.

He had allegedly been blackmailed by Wilawan over their romantic relationship, investigators found.

She told the monk she was pregnant and asked him to pay her 7.2 million baht (£165,000), Jaroonkiat Pankaew, a Central Investigation Bureau deputy commissioner, said at a news conference in Bangkok on Tuesday.

Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai ordered authorities to review and consider tightening existing laws related to monks and temples, especially the transparency of temple finances, to restore faith in Buddhism, government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said on Tuesday.

The Central Investigation Bureau has set up a Facebook page for people to report monks who misbehave, Mr Jaroonkiat said.

“We will investigate monks across the country,” he said. “I believe that the ripple effects of this investigation will lead to a lot of changes.”