Speaking exclusively to The Independent on condition of anonymity, the man claims he was targeted twice by Mr Pincher, first in December 2021 and again last month. An alleged assault took place on the parliamentary estate in June when the man claims Pincher deliberately touched his genitals through his clothes and refused to remove his hand when asked. “He put his hand on my crotch and moved it,” the deputy said. “I shook my head and said no, I don’t want that, but him [Mr Pincher] just smile…keep going until I managed to pull away.” During the first alleged incident, on a night in December 2021 near the Tory-linked private members’ club, the Carlton Club, the man said he was repeatedly fondled, with Mr Pincher’s hand placed “firmly” on his back of. “It was very late and I was working stupid hours for days. I had been drinking with a number of Westminster colleagues and it was very hazy. I remember suddenly realizing that I was being touched in a sexual way,” said the MP. In both cases, the touching was prolonged and sexually intimate, the man claimed, and said he was limited in his ability to resist after drinking. Mr Pincher vehemently denies the allegations. The MP’s account comes amid a flurry of allegations about Mr Pincher’s behavior since he resigned as deputy leader on Friday morning following allegations he groped two men while drunk on Wednesday night. Speaking for the first time since resigning from his government post, Mr Pincher announced he was seeking “professional medical support”. He would cooperate fully with the investigation, he said, adding that the stresses of the last few days “on top of those of the last few months, made me accept that I would benefit from professional medical support. “I am in the process of pursuing that now and hope to be able to return to my constituency duties as soon as possible.” The Prime Minister suspended Mr Pincher from the party, but only after calling a Tory MP who gave a “disturbing” account of his behaviour, a Downing Street source told the PA news agency. The events on June 29 reportedly took place at the Carlton Club, a private members’ club in central London frequented by Tory MPs, aides and activists. In May, the news website Politico reported that a lawmaker, later revealed to be Mr. Pincher, was given attention to try to prevent him from drinking too much and getting into trouble. In his resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Pincher wrote that he was stepping down from the role because he had “drank too much” and had “embarrassed” himself and others. Earlier today, he said he was “truly sorry”, adding that he was seeking medical attention and would cooperate fully with a parliamentary inquiry into the allegations. The MP who made the latest allegations said he felt now was the right time to speak out about Mr Pincher’s alleged behavior because there may be other victims and because there was a wider problem of people “turning a blind eye to the abuse of younger men from seniors’ within the parliament. He said: “We are rightly alert to the abuse of young women working in Westminster. We are starting to learn to spot the signs of older men targeting them. We are blind, even more uncomfortable, to the idea that men target men. “I think people are afraid that calling out abusive behavior will be seen as homophobic,” he added. The MP said he previously mentioned Mr Pincher fondling him to a fellow Tory MP, but it was “redacted” because “it was a known quantity”. He said he had not made a complaint through the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) or the police to avoid damaging personal exposure. The MP added that Mr Pincher was “an embarrassment to the party” and it was “unacceptable for him [Mr Pincher] to stay” in parliament. A formal complaint about Mr Pincher’s conduct was lodged on Friday with the ICGS, which is investigating his conduct. In what appears to be a separate claim, a young Conservative activist told The Times that Pincher put his hand on his knee and told him he would “go far in the party” at an event during the Conservative Party conference in Manchester . Mr. Pincher’s lawyers said he vehemently denies the allegation, according to the Times report.
