Boris Johnson faces a backlash over the promotion of his ally Chris Pincher, as a group of members of Conservative parliamentary staff accused the prime minister of “failing to act on warnings” of his deputies’ misconduct.
As new claims emerged about Pincher, who resigned as deputy director of the council on charges of palpating two men at a London club, the No. 10 continued to insist that Johnson was unaware of any “specific” warnings until the last week.
But a source at the whips office acknowledged Sunday that during the February remodel they were informed of a Pincher-related “affair.” The source had previously denied receiving any complaints or warnings, formal or informal, about his conduct.
Johnson is likely to face questions in parliament this week about what he knew about the allegations about Pincher, after five more reports emerged over the weekend of alleged misconduct, including Conservative MPs groping. Pincher denies all charges against him.
The notice in the whip office in February is believed to come from a Conservative MP who was the subject of an unwanted pass from Pincher. A second deputy told the Guardian that they had raised allegations of sexual misconduct by Pincher with his whip, but without filing a formal complaint because they were not personally a victim.
He said he had told the whips office in February that Pincher should not be at work because he could not trust the young male staff. “I told a whip what he thought of Pincher, and that he had a terrible reputation with the younger staff and the deputies who hadn’t disappeared. That still holds.”
The MP said they had not made any specific allegations, as this would have led to a full-fledged investigation and could not guarantee that the accusers would come forward.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to do it without the express permission of a victim. But I wanted them to know there were claims.”
A third MP said high-ranking party officials had warned that “Pincher should not be near the whips office”, let alone in the role of MP which gave responsibility for the welfare of MPs and the discipline.
There were also reports that Steve Barclay, Johnson’s chief of staff, tried to block Pincher’s appointment and called for an investigation by the Cabinet Office’s property and ethics team.
A group of parliamentary aides, called Conservative Staffers for Change, who previously wrote to Johnson with his general concerns about sexual misconduct in Westminster, said Sunday that the stories now coming out about Pincher “are not a surprise.”
“His behavior was an open secret in Westminster and it is disappointing that this has not been addressed before,” they said.
“Having raised his concern about sexual misconduct with the whip on his head, he disappointed us not only with the time it took to get the whip out of Pincher, but also with the continuing lack of clarity about the knowledge of the first minister on his conduct.
“We wrote the letter to the Prime Minister raising concerns about illegal sexual misconduct [by those in power abusing their positions] in May, but received no response. This is more than just Westminster culture, it is about the Prime Minister’s lack of action in the face of warnings of serious misconduct by the rulers. “
The two parliamentary staff members representing the group are due to meet this week with Lindsay Hoyle, the chair, to “set out our concerns about parliament as a job and how our employment structures can be reformed.” .
Conservative MPs have also expressed concern with their whips about why the party refused to take the allegations about Pincher seriously without a formal complaint from an alleged victim of the Independent Complaints and Complaints Plan.
Anne Milton, the former Conservative deputy director, told the Guardian: “I am very angry that this kind of behavior is still going on today … Victims will show up if they trust the process and the individual they will do. That person shouldn’t be in the whip office, just a senior person with responsibility. And absolutely witnesses should be able to file complaints. It’s nonsense to have a system without that. “
High Conservatives remain adamant that Conservative MP Craig Whittaker resigned as a whip in February over pending allegations of harassment against Pincher, despite Whittaker’s refusal.
Whittaker, the Calder Valley MP, issued a statement to the Halifax Courier on Sunday saying he had retired as a whip for health reasons, and not because he opposed Pincher’s appointment, as stated Saturday.
But a senior conservative source said: “There is no doubt that Craig was worried about Pincher taking on a key role that gave him power over younger MPs, he has told people that was the reason.” We really need to believe that this was not conveyed to the Prime Minister? It is pushing the boundaries of credibility. “
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Another younger Tory colleague said: “There were persistent rumors about Chris and how he behaves when he is drunk, but there are persistent rumors about most people in parliament and if you believed them all we would have no MPs.
“So I distrusted him, but I didn’t quite believe those rumors because I hadn’t met anyone who said they’d seen him palpate someone or that they’d palpated him. Now, of course, I say to myself, ‘should I have said something earlier?’ But the reality is that a complaint is needed for other complaints to come out. ”
Pincher has had the whip suspended, but Johnson initially opposed the move until a victim of the Independent Complaints and Complaints Plan filed a formal complaint about him.