Boris Johnson accused of ignoring warnings about Chris Pincher amid new allegations

Boris Johnson is going through accusations he overlooked warnings about alleged sexual misconduct by his former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher, after a string of more claims about the MP emerged.

The primary minister is underneath pressure to demonstrate what he realized about Pincher’s conduct, amid statements by the former No 10 aide Dominic Cummings that Johnson referred to him as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature”.

Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip on Thursday immediately after allegations that he drunkenly groped two guys in a Piccadilly club. He experienced the whip withdrawn following a report to parliament’s unbiased issues procedure.

A even further slew of six allegations about Pincher’s sexual conduct emerged in the Sunday newspapers, such as claims of groping MPs. There was also a report that one particular Tory MP, Craig Whittaker, resigned from the whips’ place of work when Pincher was promoted in February. Pincher has denied the allegations.

A No 10 source acknowledged that Johnson “probably” knew about standard allegations about Pincher and the nickname of “Pincher by name etc” but argued he was not able to glimpse into “unsubstantiated rumour” prior to appointing him deputy chief whip in February.

Speaking to broadcasters, Thérèse Coffey, the do the job and pensions secretary, insisted Johnson was “not aware of particular claims” about Pincher but could not deny he had been advised about far more general considerations.

Chris Pincher should lose Tory whip, says MP who watched pornography in Commons – video01:57

She instructed Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “I am mindful that the prime minister was not conscious of unique statements that experienced been made.”

However, Coffey acknowledged she had not spoken to the primary minister himself. She explained she had been informed by the No 10 push business office that Johnson did not know about any precise promises.

In a statement at the weekend, Pincher stated he respected the prime minister’s final decision to eliminate the whip. “As I explained to the prime minister, I drank far also a lot on Wednesday evening, embarrassing myself and many others, and I am definitely sorry for the upset I caused,” he mentioned.

“The stresses of the very last couple of times, coming on prime of those in excess of the final various months, have produced me acknowledge that I will benefit from professional health-related help. I am in the method of looking for that now, and I hope to be ready to return to my constituency obligations as shortly as doable.”

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Coffey highlighted that Pincher was cleared by a previous investigation soon after Alex Story, a former expert rower and Tory prospect, accused him of earning undesired passes and acting like a “poundshop Harvey Weinstein”.

Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow small business secretary, described Coffey’s responses as “desperate”. He mentioned: “I feel we have got to accept what the steady difficulty is and it is a Conservative bash that frequently chooses to do what is politically expedient more than what is ideal. It’s clear from what we know this early morning that Chris Pincher ought to never have been set again into the whips’ business.”

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The Labour MP Jess Phillips highlighted the onus on victims to go as a result of a formal problems method and the absence of independence in occasion inquiries.

“The total procedure that depends on victims executing all the do the job to power the people today with all the electrical power to do the suitable issue is a trouble. It supplies go over for politicians who know fine properly about colleagues’ conduct to sit again and do absolutely nothing,” she stated.

“Pincher was cleared before by a completely non-independent investigation by the Conservative celebration. Similar method that stated Rob Roberts did nothing improper also. Exact technique that gave Charlie Elphicke and Andrew Griffiths the whip again.”

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