Daniel Korski was the bookies’ favourite to take on Sadiq Khan as Conservative candidate for LondonMayor.
The Danish-born businessman is one of three Tories to make the shortlist for the contest, promising to “turn the London dream into reality”.
But the 46-year-old, a former special adviser to then-prime minister David Cameron, has seen his campaign thrown into turmoil by the allegation he groped TV producer Daisy Goodwin in Downing Street a decade ago.
Ms Goodwin urged others who may have ‘had similar experiences’ with Mr Korski to come forward
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Ms Goodwin urged others who may have ‘had similar experiences’ with Mr Korski to come forward
With less than a month before Tory members pick a candidate for next May’s ballot, Mr Korski, who denies having behaved inappropriately “in the strongest possible terms”, may need some help to get his campaign back on track.
So who is the man accused of groping Ms Goodwin?
Daniel Korski, awarded a CBE by Mr Cameron in 2016 for “political and public service”, was born in Denmark in 1977.
The son of Polish refugees, Mr Korski moved to the UK in 1997 before studying at the London School of Economics and the University of Cambridge.
Early career
After stints as a war correspondent in Libya for The Spectator, a policy fellow at think tank the European Council on Foreign Relations and the EU’s then-foreign affairs and security representative Catherine Ashton, he moved into politics in the UK.
Mr Korski advised Tory MP Andrew Mitchell and in 2013 became deputy head of the Number 10 Policy Unit, spending three years as a key adviser to Mr Cameron.
In 2016, Mr Korski backed Britain remaining in the European Union, helping to run the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign.
The following year, he started Public.io, which gives financial backing to companies aiming to transform public services.
Who is Daniel Korski’s wife?
Mr Korski is married to Fiona Mcilwham, who in 2009 became one of the UK’s youngest ever ambassadors when she was posted to Albania aged just 35.
She describes herself on Twitter as a “wannabe supermum” to the couple’s son.
As well as a series of high-profile diplomatic roles, including postings to Bosnia and Iraq, the EU and the G7, she served as private secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Ms Mcilwham was appointed by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in September 2019, serving until April 2020.
What are his mayoral campaign priorities?
Mr Korski is running in the mayoral race on a platform of implementing a new tourist tax to pay for more police, including setting up a minor crimes unit to work with communities, and building denser housing in central London.
His campaign has been endorsed by levelling up secretary Michael Gove and senior Tories Robert Buckland and Nadhim Zahawi.
He is seen as a frontrunner after Paul Scully, the government’s minister for London, failed to make it on to the Conservative shortlist. But the allegations from Ms Goodwin represent a potentially fatal blow to his campaign.
A spokesperson for Mr Korski has said: “In the strongest possible terms, Dan categorically denies any allegation of inappropriate behaviour whatsoever.”
