In a highly unusual move, Simon McDonald, who was the most senior official in the Foreign Office and is now a peer, told the parliamentary standards commissioner that the prime minister had been told in person about a 2019 complaint about alleged fondling by the former Conservative deputy chief whip. Speaking to the BBC later, McDonald said Downing Street needed to “come clean” and that some ministers’ statements about Pincher were wrong. Dominic Raab, who was foreign secretary at the time, confirmed to the BBC that an investigation had been launched into allegations about Pincher, then a junior foreign secretary, who resigned as deputy leader after he was accused of drunkenly groping two men. However, Raab said he did not know if Johnson had been informed of the investigation, as McDonald said. Raab said: “This is new to me, I was not aware of it. It’s not clear to me that this is really accurate.” He added: “I have discussed this with the prime minister in the last 24 hours. I don’t understand that it was updated immediately.” Asked if Johnson specifically said he wasn’t informed, Raab added: “To be honest with you, I didn’t ask him. He didn’t upload it.” McDonald’s letter, sent to Catherine Stone, the parliamentary standards commissioner, and posted on Twitter on Tuesday morning, appears to undercut the insistence of No 10 representatives and a range of ministers that Johnson was unaware of any “specific” allegations against Pincher before last week. This morning I wrote to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner – why No 10 keeps changing its story and still not telling the truth. pic.twitter.com/vln9FU4V50 – Simon McDonald (@imSimonMcDonaldUK) July 5, 2022 On Monday, Johnson’s official spokesman amended this to say that the prime minister was aware of the allegations but that they had “either been resolved or no formal complaint has been made”. In a scathing letter, McDonald, a long-serving senior diplomat who was permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office from 2015 to 2020 and becomes a peer in 2021, made it clear he believed that was also untrue. In the summer of 2019, shortly after Pincher became secretary of state, McDonald wrote, a group of officials complained about his behavior, McDonald said, saying the allegations were “similar” to those that emerged last week. An investigation upheld the complaint and Pincher apologized, he added. It was, McDonald wrote, “not true” for No 10 to claim either that Johnson was unaware of previous complaints or the amended line about the only complaint he knew was unfounded. “Mr. Johnson has been personally informed of the initiation and outcome of the investigation,” the letter said. “There was a ‘formal complaint’. The allegations were “resolved” only in the sense that the investigation was completed. Mr. Pincher was not acquitted. Characterizing the allegations as ‘baseless’ is therefore wrong.” He added: “I know it is unusual for me to be writing to you and releasing the letter at the same time. I am aware of the duty I owe to the target of an investigation, but I am acting outside my duty to the victims. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST “Mr Pincher defrauded me and others in 2019. He cannot be allowed to use the secrecy of the proceedings three years ago to continue his predatory behavior in other contexts.” Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today show on Tuesday, MacDonald said he knew for sure that a senior official had tipped off Johnson because that official told him at the time. McDonald said: “I think they need to come clean. I think the language is ambiguous, kind of telling the truth and crossing your fingers at the same time and hoping that people aren’t too forensic in their next interrogations, and I think that doesn’t work.” He singled out comments to the media by Children’s Minister Will Quince on Monday that Johnson was “not aware of specific allegations”, saying: “The categorical assurance was wrong”. Asked about the letter in Today, Raab confirmed that the investigation had taken place. He said: “Simon and I spoke personally to Chris Pincher to make it clear that the misconduct must never happen again.” Raab said he told the then chief whip but did not know if the prime minister was informed.
