Pincher, who resigned as deputy chief whip on Thursday, referred to the independent complaints and complaints system, which looks into allegations of misconduct by MPs. The impeachment prompted the chief whip, Chris Heaton-Harris, to have the whip suspended by his former deputy himself after nearly 24 hours of pressure on Johnson to act against Pincher. With the MP’s suspension, the spotlight has turned on what the prime minister knew about the allegations against Pincher, who previously resigned from the whip’s office in 2017 after allegations he made unwanted advances at a Tory colleague and acted like “harvey weinstein pound shop”. . He was cleared of wrongdoing in a party investigation. On Friday, the prime minister’s official spokesman denied knowing about “specific” allegations before appointing him as deputy leader in February. However, a No 10 source admitted Johnson was “probably” aware of rumors surrounding the MP’s sexual behaviour, while downplaying the seriousness of the latest allegations to the level of “biting someone’s bum”. The government admitted that the Cabinet’s fitness and ethics team had reviewed Pincher’s suitability before he was promoted to a role responsible for the discipline and pastoral care of MPs, but said it could not block any appointment based on “unsubstantiated rumours”. The sixth scandal involving alleged sexual harassment of an MP under the Johnson government broke on Thursday after the Sun reported that Pincher had allegedly drunkenly applauded two men at the Carlton Club in London’s Piccadilly. The deputy chief whip, who was instrumental in propping up Johnson’s premiership earlier this year, wrote to the prime minister saying he was resigning because he was “embarrassed”, but the No 10 initially said there was no need to remove the whip as he had taken over. responsibility. Senior Tories, including former ministers Caroline Nokes and Karen Bradley, had called for the whip to be withdrawn and the allegations investigated, while Neil Parish, who resigned as a Tory MP after viewing porn in the Commons, accused the Prime Minister of “double-dealing standards’ in his own treatment compared to Pincher. Bradley and Noakes, both select committee chairs, wrote to Johnson on Friday urging him to show “zero tolerance” for cases of sexual misconduct, adding that the whip should be withdrawn while thorough investigations are conducted in each case. They also called for a code of conduct for Conservative members. Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, accused Johnson of “falling kicking and screaming to get any action”. “He can’t be trusted to do the right thing. This whole scandal is yet another proof of his terrible judgement,” he said. The independent complaints process will be conducted confidentially. However, multiple sources told the Guardian that whips were aware of allegations of past sexual misconduct by Pincher. A female Tory MP said other ministers and backbenchers had taken it upon themselves in recent months to do welfare checks on colleagues because “no one had any confidence that victims could seriously go to the whip’s office to report misconduct” given the previous complaint against Pincher. Two Conservative MPs also said Pincher was responsible for bullying behavior towards MPs. Pincher was accused by a senior Tory MP of repeated bullying behavior and veiled blackmail threats. “He and the shadow whipping business were the main organizers of this kind of activity,” the MP said. Another Tory MP said: “He is seen as a master of the black arts … The only reason the Prime Minister was stuck with him is that he owns more damaging things than the damage he does to the party.” Others speculated that Johnson was desperate for Pincher not to lose the whip or resign as an MP if he faced another vote of no confidence. There was great disgust at No 10’s initial lack of interest in Pincher’s behavior beyond his admission that he was drunk. “He’s resigned as if he’s had one too many sherbets,” complained one senior fan. It is understood the whip’s office says it has had no formal complaints of sexual harassment or bullying in relation to Pincher and takes the position that it does not act on unsubstantiated allegations, rumors or hearsay. The incident comes after a group of Tory senior figures wrote to the prime minister and the Conservative party to complain that allegations of serious sexual abuse, harassment and bullying made against MPs were being treated as “mere gossip”. The staff group that works for Tory MPs said “behavior committed by a few but tolerated by others has tarnished the reputation” of parliament. The Pincher case follows a series of incidents involving allegations of sexual harassment by MPs, including a Tory MP arrested on suspicion of rape who had not removed his whip. Imran Ahmad Khan, the Conservative MP for Wakefield, was found guilty in April of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy after wearing jeans to him at a party. Khan attacked the boy in Staffordshire in January 2008, 11 years before he became an MP. He resigned as an MP two weeks after being found guilty. Paris, the Tory MP for Tiverton and Honiton, also resigned in April after admitting watching porn on his phone in the Commons, with the party subsequently losing its huge majority in the seat to the Lib Dems. Another Tory MP, David Warburton, lost the whip after the Sunday Times reported he was facing allegations from three women. Warburton, 56, was accused by one of the women of climbing into bed naked. She told the newspaper that she repeatedly warned she did not want to have sex with him, but claimed he rubbed his body against her and grabbed her breast. He is said to have denied any wrongdoing and said he had “huge amounts of defence, but unfortunately the way things work means he doesn’t come out first”. Only one Conservative appeared to defend Pincher on Friday. Peter Bottomley, the longest-serving MP, said in a WhatsApp message to colleagues that he hoped “Pincher will be back in government soon”. The government said Pincher had been replaced as deputy chief by Kelly Tolhurst.
