The Financial Times reporter who went undercover to expose alleged sexual harassment at the Presidents Club charity dinner has said a “nasty backlash” to the story led to her retreating to the countryside for a week.

Madison Marriage, the FT’s accounting and tax correspondent, said she “desperately hopes” the increased violence against journalists seen across the European Union in the past year does not make its way to the UK.

Four journalists have been killed in Europe since August 2017, when Danish inventor Peter Madsen murdered Swedish freelance Kim Wall who was interviewing him on a submarine trip. He has been jailed for life.