By Ben Kerrigan-
Boris Johnson is facing calls to suspend his former deputy chief whip as a Tory MP, after he resigned following his embarrassing conduct in groping two men at a private members’ club when he was drunk.
Chris Pincher quit his government post on Thursday, saying in a resignation letter he “drank far too much” and “embarrassed myself and other people”.
Labour’s Yvette Cooper called for his suspension whilst the “really serious” allegations are formally investigated- a reasonable position to take in a case this serious. The revelation has added to the rotten culture in Westminster that has seen Mps lose their collective dignity in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and bullying allegations.
What makes this more worrying is the fact Boris Johnson was made aware of complaints against the Mp but still made him a Deputy Whipp.
Welsh Secretary Simon Hart said he was unable to confirm a formal probe had been launched into the allegations Tory chief whip, Chris Heaton-Harris, would be holding discussions on Friday to “decide properly what should happen”.
The Sun newspaper first reported Mr Pincher’s resignation, saying he was drinking at the Carlton Club in central London when he is said to have assaulted two other male guests.
Several concerned Tory MPs contacted the Conservative whips’ office to complain about his behaviour after many witnessed what effectively was a sexual assault, the paper said.
On Thursday, a Downing Street source said as things stood Mr Pincher would face no further action from the party and would keep the whip, allowing him to continue to sit as a Conservative MP.
A Tory MP told the BBC they had raised concerns about Mr Pincher’s behaviour to senior figures in Number 10 and the Conservative Party – including chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris, minister Nigel Adams, government whips and one of the prime minister’s top advisers Ben Gascoigne.
Speaking about raising concerns, the MP said: “Loads [of us] did when he was in the frame for chief whip and he never got it. There were concerns, none of us had proof we could use. He should have the whip suspended and a by-election.”
Shadow home secretary Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is just a total disgrace, the response from Boris Johnson, from the government to this.
“These allegations are really serious, this is about sexual assault.
“So the idea that the response that we’ve seen – that the prime minister thinks he’s done the decent thing by resigning, that there’s no need for an investigation – that’s a total disgrace.”
She added: “There has to be a full investigation now, and of course he should have the whip suspended while that investigation takes place.
“We need to know the full truth about what has happened, and what the allegations are, but I think that’s the first step that needs to take place.”
She added that the Conservatives “have to show they take this sort of thing more seriously, and time and again Boris Johnson just doesn’t”.
“That is not good enough. This is about standards in public life.”
Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said: “Given the seriousness of these allegations, it’s difficult to see how Chris Pincher can continue as an MP.
“There now needs to be a full investigation and in the meantime Chris Pincher should have the Conservative whip withdrawn.”
Too many Mps have brought the whipp to disrepute in the past due to sexual misconduct or harassment.
Charlie Elpicke, the former MP for Dover, was convicted and jailed in 2020 for sexually assaulting two women. He was found guilty of three charges, two in relation to a parliamentary worker in 2016 and one in relation to a woman at his family’s central London home in 2007. The sentencing judge described Elphicke as “a sexual predator who used … success and respectability as a cover
Neil Parish, The Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton was forced to resign in April admitted to watching porn on his phone in the House of Commons.
A long list of sexual misconduct allegations made against MPs | UK news, raises very serious questions about what both parliament and the Uk government will do about cleaning up the quality and integrity of Mps. Having Mps who make laws and break the laws they make is worse than ridiculous and makes a laughing stock of the British government.
Several thousands of readers from abroad will read this story online in this publication and many other news outlets, and be absolutely shocked at how the Uk can have people itting in parliament who do not respect the very laws they make.