A Tory election candidate in Margaret Thatcher’s old seat once belittled a groping allegation against Boris Johnson.
In reference to the claim, Alex Deane said he was quoting the late Conservative diarist Alan Clark’s remark: “how do I know my advances are unwanted until I’ve made them?” It came after a female journalist accused the then PM Johnson of groping her leg under the table 20 years earlier.
Charlotte Edwardes claimed Johnson, then Spectator magazine editor, grabbed “enough inner flesh beneath his fingers” to make her “sit suddenly upright” at a 1999 lunch. But Deane, standing for the Tories in Finchley and Golders Green in London at the election, played down the allegation – denied by Number 10 – after it emerged in 2019.
In a Sky News discussion with broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika about the allegation in 2019, he said: “…You’re talking about it as if it’s true.” Hazarika replied: “I think it is true, I believe her. I believe the victim here, I do believe the victim.”
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Deane responded: “That’s remarkable. So you don’t believe any more in the presumption of innocence, you don’t believe that people get anything more than a trial by media, and someone like you, who won’t even look at me, saying that someone’s definitely guilty.”
Sky News’ Kay Burley said: “He does have previous though.” But Deane shot back: “Hang on… the late Alan Clark said, ‘how do I know my advances are unwanted until I’ve made them?’”
In a twist, Deane’s Wikipedia page was edited from London to remove reference to the Clark comment – on the day his seat selection was announced. A section which detailed how Deane quoted Clark in relation to the allegation was removed on 19 March. On the same day, Finchley and Golders Green Tories announced his selection , saying: “Alex Deane brings a wealth of experience to this role. His commitment to representing the interests of all residents, coupled with his passion for positive change, makes him an excellent choice to lead Finchley and Golders Green into the future.”
The Tories held the seat in 2019 with a 6,562 majority. The seat of Finchley was previously represented by ex-PM Thatcher. Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Paymaster General, said: “Alex Deane’s conduct raises serious questions about his suitability for public office, yet the Conservatives have been happy to select him as their candidate. Having promised to lead a government of integrity, there are now serious concerns about the calibre of Rishi Sunak ’s would-be MPs.”
In 1997, the late Simon Hoggart reported: “… sexual misbehaviour, especially if it’s undesired, can be fatal for a politician. So it was with mixed horror and fascination recently when one of the many foreign journalists’ clubs in London met Alan Clark, the most politically incorrect politician in Britain. One of them asked how he justified making `unsolicited and unwanted advances to women’. Clark curled his lips and with a fine contempt demanded `how on earth do you know an advance is unwanted until after you’ve made it?’.”
Deane, who holds a senior post at a consulting firm, has appeared as a politics pundit on TV and previously been David Cameron ’s chief of staff. Deane told us: “I was defending the then-Prime Minister against an historic allegation which has, to my knowledge, never been taken further – my repeated point was that everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence, which was not being extended to Boris Johnson. The Alan Clark quote was a foolish mistake made after the repeated refusal by the other participants to acknowledge that point.”
Asked whether he, anyone associated with him, or anyone in the Conservative party edited his Wikipedia to remove the reference to his use of the Alan Clark quote, he said: “Not to my knowledge. I certainly didn’t.” A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party does not condone these comments. Mr. Deane rightfully apologised for his remarks at the time.”