RAGING Boris Johnson denied groping journalist Charlotte Edwardes — telling aides: "This is f***ing untrue."

Edwardes claimed the Prime Minister grabbed her inner thigh at a private lunch 20 years ago.

4 Boris Johnson is accusing of squeezing a young journalists knee while editor at the Spectator Credit: Getty Images - Getty

4 Charlotte Edwardes, left, made the claims in The Sunday Times Credit: Rex Features

Boris Johnson blew his top as sleaze scandals threatened to engulf No 10.

In her debut Sunday Times column, Ms Edwardes wrote he got “enough inner flesh beneath his fingers” at a lunch to make her “sit suddenly upright”.

In the piece, written on September 29, 2019, she alleged Mr Johnson groped her and another woman when he edited political magazine The Spectator 20 years ago.

Moments before No 10’s denial, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I know her and I know her to be trustworthy.”

Amber Rudd, who quit as Work and Pensions Secretary earlier this month, tweeted: “I agree with @MattHancock.”

Charlotte Edwardes tweeted: “If the prime minister doesn’t recollect the incident then clearly I have a better memory than he does.”

Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan waded into the controversy this morning, telling viewers: "Knowing Boris, nothing would surprise me.

"My favourite joke when I was running newspapers about Boris Johnson was 'a survey asked 10,000 women would you sleep with Boris Johnson and 7,500 said 'never again''."

Tory women come out to defend Boris but admit he's a 'bull in a china shop' TORY women have this afternoon come out to defend Boris Johnson after he was hit by multiple sleaze allegations today. Last night it was revealed that the PM allegedly groped a journalist's thigh - and ex-model Jennifer Arcuri was said to have told pals she had an affair with Boris. And this afternoon ex-Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt described the PM as a "Frank Spencer in a China shop" but insisted he was a "decent person". Ms Mordaunt said: "He is not the individual that he is quite often painted as being. "He occasionally has the style of Frank Spencer in a china shop. "But he's a decent person. I think he cares a great deal about women and girls. "And certainly that was my experience when he was foreign secretary." And Redditch MP Rachel Maclean said: "The original feminists talked about 'deeds, not words'. "And on that basis, I absolutely judge the Prime Minister to be a feminist. "And if you look at his record, and what he's done for women - I would point to the record on female genital mutilation, he has been the foremost champion of putting resources into (tackling) that around the world." Other Tories have refused to comment on Boris' private life. "Boris has never lectured other people about their private lives," Health Secretary Matt Hancock said earlier.

Meanwhile Mr Johnson, referred to a police complaints body over claims involving US tech entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri, insisted: “Everything was done with full propriety”.

Her company was said to have received taxpayers’ cash while she was in a

relationship with the then-Mayor of London.

Asked by the BBC if he declared an interest when the grants were decided, Mr Johnson insisted there was “no interest to declare”.

He was defended by Penny Mordaunt — saying he was just like accident-prone Frank Spencer from ’70s sitcom Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em.

Ms Mordaunt, sacked as Defence Secretary by Mr Johnson in the summer, said: “He occasionally has the style of Frank Spencer in a china shop.

But he’s a decent person. I think he cares a great deal about women and girls.”

Redditch Tory MP Rachel Maclean added: “The original feminists talked about, ‘Deeds, not words.

And on that basis, I absolutely judge the Prime Minister to be a feminist.”

In her column, Edwardes also appeared to reference Michael Fallon and Damian Green, two Conservative ministers who were accused of misconduct while in office.

"He’s seen off mere papery knee-fondlers — two ministers were flung out for this in 2017", Edwardes wrote.

Michael Fallon resigned from his defence portfolio in October 2017 after several allegations of misconduct, including an admission that he'd repeatedly touched the journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer's knee at a conference dinner.

Former deputy PM, Damian Green, was accused of inappropriate behaviour by journalist Kate Maltby in 2015.

Ms Maltby claimed Green had made an unwanted advance towards her with the suggestion it might further her career.

She wrote in The Guardian: "Although others have since minimised my story as a tale of a “touch on a knee”, I perceived that he was suggesting sex while offering me a job."

A Cabinet Office inquiry found her allegations "plausible".

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Green apologised for causing distress to Ms Maltby, but said he "[did] not recognise the events she described".

He later resigned over a police investigation into pornography found on one of his computers, which had also been part of the same Cabinet Office probe.

Green denied downloading or viewing pornography on his parliamentary computers, but apologised for making misleading statements in relation to the extent of his knowledge about the police investigations.

4 Boris Johnson in 1999, when he was editor of the Spectator Credit: Rex Features

4 Johnson is currently under fire over his alleged relationship with US businesswoman Jennifer Arcurio Credit: Refer to Caption

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