POLITICAL correspondent Ailbhe Rea said her Belfast father branded Prime Minister Boris Johnson's father a "dirty oul get" after hearing he had groped her at a Conservative Party conference.
Ms Rea, a former Methodist College pupil, elaborated about her treatment by Stanley Johnson yesterday in the New Statesman after first revealing the incident last week.
She spoke out in support of Tory MP Caroline Nokes who accused Mr Johnson of forcefully smacking her on the bottom and making a vulgar comment at the Conservative Party conference in 2003.
Mr Johnson (81) has denied both of the women's allegations.
Writing in her column in the London publication, Ms Rea explained why she had spoken out.
"When I was 24, and had been in my job at the New Statesman for two months - my first in political journalism - I went to a party at Conservative conference. It was in Manchester, in 2019. I knew no one, but recognised everyone," she wrote.
She described how when Stanley Johnson approached she "gave him a warm smile ' because this was the Prime Minister's father, a nice older man, and someone I recognised", but his smile back "became more of a leer".
"As he walked past, he reached out to put his hand on my back. His hand slid down, and lingered too low and for too long. I was so surprised and confused, I barely managed a grimace before he was gone. I said nothing to him."
Ms Rea said when she mentioned it to friends and colleagues she was told "Johnson is notoriously `handsy'" and she would not have said anything publicly but "I didn't want Caroline Nokes to be alone in calling out something I knew hadn't only happened to her".
When she mentioned what happened "in passing to my parents they were shocked, sincerely hurt that their daughter might not be fully respected as she goes about her exciting job in Westminster".
"Their reaction hurt me more than the incident had at the time. My Dad, a true Belfast man, collected himself and declared Stanley Johnson a `dirty oul get'."
Ms Rea described Ms Nokes's decision to speak out as "a courageous feminist act and I wanted to match that in the very small way I could".
She said her "phone has scarcely stopped ringing since".
"What meant the most to me were the messages from women at the top of politics and journalism - many of whom I don't know personally - who sent me messages of support at a moment when it felt most scary."
A former Conservative cabinet minister also "picked up the phone to offer his support".
Ms Rea said both women "gain nothing" from speaking out, but she hope it will "be no more than a footnote in my career".
