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Toby Young has said that people working at the Spectator magazine in the 1990s would have complained if Boris Johnson "didn't put his hand on their knee".

Journalist Charlotte Edwardes said the Prime Minister put his hand “high” up her leg while they were both at a boozy lunch for the Spectator.

Writing in the Sunday Times, she said he had “enough inner flesh beneath his fingers” to make her “sit suddenly upright.”

Mr Young, stood down from the Office for Students after a backlash to a number of his tweets, downplayed the allegations made against the PM and referred to scandals at the paper which gave it the nickname the Sextator.

Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party at an event titled "Is the state killing free speech?" organised by the TaxPayer's Alliance, he said:

“I was at the Spectator with another guy covering the drama beat when the there sex scandals hit the Spectator. They were simultaneously called the sextator.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

"I wrote a satirical play called Who’s The Daddy? which ended with the Boris Johnson character’s mistress giving birth to three blonde triplets.

"Back then at The Spectator, in those raucous days, people complained if Boris didn’t put his hand on their knee. Times really have changed.”

During the discussion Alex Deane, a former adviser to David Cameron, also spoke up for the PM quoting Alan Clark who said: "How do I know my advances are unwanted until I’ve made them?".

Earlier today Boris Johnson publicly denied the claim that he squeezed Ms Edwardes' thigh.

Asked if she had made it up he said: "I'm just saying what I've said. What the public want to hear is what we are doing for them and for the country and the investment in ways of uniting the country."

It follows a rare on the record denial from Downing Street last night when a spokesman said: "This allegation is untrue".

Ms Edwardes hit back after the denial, saying: "If the prime minister doesn’t recollect the incident then clearly I have a better memory than he does."

Earlier, Ms Edwardes also said she recounted the tale to a second guest at the same lunch, who said: “Oh God, he did exactly the same to me.”

The No10 spokesman offered no comment on the claims about the second woman at the same lunch.

The alleged incident took place at the offices of the Spectator magazine just after he took over as editor in 1999.

Ms Edwardes wrote: “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.”

She also said he referred to Marina Wheeler as his “current wife.”

Mr Johnson had married Ms Wheeler six years earlier, in 1993.