Boris Johnson was aware of claims about shamed MP Chris Pincher before appointing him as Tory deputy chief whip earlier this year, Downing Street admitted today.
The Prime Minister is under pressure over the latest sleaze scandal to hit the Conservatives after Mr Pincher was last week suspended as a Tory MP amid claims he drunkenly groped two men.
A slew of fresh allegations have since emerged against the 52-year-old.
Questions are now being asked about what Mr Johnson knew of Mr Pincher’s conduct prior to appointing him to the key role in charge of party discipline in February.
It has even been claimed Mr Johnson referred to the Tamworth MP as being ‘handsy’ and joked he was ‘Pincher by name, pincher by nature’ before making him a senior whip.
The PM’s official spokesman today insisted Mr Johnson was ‘not aware of any specific allegations being looked at’ and pointed to how Mr Pincher had previously already served in Government under Theresa May.
But the spokesman also admitted that the PM was ‘aware of media reports that others had seen over the years and some allegations that were either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint’.
‘He did take advice on some of the allegations that had been made, but there was no formal complaint at that time and it was deemed not appropriate to stop an appointment simply because of unsubstantiated allegations,’ they added.
The spokesman did not deny the claims – made by the PM’s estranged former chief adviser Dominic Cummings – that Mr Johnson had previously joked about Mr Pincher’s reputation.
‘I’m simply not going to comment on content of what was or wasn’t said in private conversations,’ they said.
Asked if Mr Johnson regretted appointing Mr Pincher as deputy chief whip, the PM’s spokesman said: ‘Clearly, we wouldn’t want anyone working in the Government to behave in the manner as he is alleged to have done so.
‘That is not the behaviour that you’d want to see in any walk of life.’
The PM is facing the fresh Tory sleaze scandal – which has caused a Cabinet backlash – just ahead of what could prove to be critical internal elections within the Conservative Party.
Tory MPs are next week set to decide on key positions on the powerful 1922 Committee – which are now being seen as a proxy vote on Mr Johnson’s future, amid plans to change party rules to allow another no confidence ballot on the PM’s leadership.
But Mr Johnson, who will face the House of Commons for the first time this afternoon after his recent nine-day foreign trip, will be expected to hit back against the continued plotting by Tory rebels.
The PM is due to report back this afernoon to MPs on his attendance at last week’s Commonwealth, G7 and NATO summits – in which he will be keen to stress the role he is playing in international efforts to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and in support ing Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
The upcoming contest for places on the 1922 Committee’s executive has led to a battle between rebel MPs and those loyal to Mr Johnson to fill those 18 positions.
When the PM won last month’s no confidence vote over his leadership he was granted 12 months immunity from having to face another contest.
But there are rebel plans to change that rule and allow Mr Johnson to face a fresh vote if they win a majority on the 1922 executive.
One rebel told The Times the row over Mr Pincher had ‘100 per cent’ strengthened the campaign to oust the PM.
Another added: ‘It has certainly sharpened minds to act because it all goes back to the Prime Minister.’
The newspaper reported that one plan by Tory rebels was to change the party’s rules to allow a new no confidence vote in Mr Johnson’s leadership if 90 MPs – 25 per cent of the parliamentary party – submit letters to 1922 chair Sir Graham Brady.
The plan is being portrayed as a ‘compromise proposal’ as it increases the threshold from 15 per cent – 54 MPs – that triggered last month’s vote.
Will Quince, the children and families minister, this morning dimissed the claim by Mr Cummings that Mr Johnson previously joked about Mr Pincher being ‘Pincher by name, pincher by nature’.
He told LBC Radio: ‘I think that quote came from Dominic Cummings, who’s not someone who I give a huge amount of credibility to, given past experience.’
In a series of TV and radio interviews, Mr Quince said he had been given ‘categorical assurance’ that Mr Johnson was ‘not aware of any serious specific allegation’ about Mr Pincher before appointing him as deputy chief whip.
He also denied claims that junior ministers such as himself were having to face media interviews about the ‘indefensible’ allegations about Mr Pincher, due to Cabinet ministers refusing to go on the airwaves.
He told Sky News: ‘I’m certainly not going to defend the former deputy chief whip.
‘The allegations are incredibly serious and I’m appalled by them.
‘But that isn’t the case today, because I was booked in four days ago, in fact five days ago I think it was, to talk about a very important childcare announcement.’
Mr Pincher last week resigned as deputy chief whip after he admitted ’embarrassing himself and others’ after drinking ‘far too much’ at the Carlton Club, a posh London watering hole popular with Conservatives.
He has referred himself for ‘professional medical support’ and vowed to ‘cooperate fully’ with a parliamentary investigation into his actions.
But the MP, who will now sit as an independent after having the Tory whip suspended, has denied other allegations to have emerged against him.
Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds has written to the PM demanding to know what Downing Street knew of allegations about Mr Pincher before his second appointment as a Tory whip.
The Tamworth MP had previously resigned from the whips’ office in 2017 after being implicated in the ‘Pestminster’ sleaze scandal after being accused of making an unwanted pass at former Olympic rower and Conservative activist Alex Story.
But Mr Pincher was later cleared by an investigation.
‘Only Boris Johnson could have looked at this guy’s record and thought “he deserves a promotion”,’ Ms Dodds said.
‘This PM is clearly happy to sweep sexual misconduct under the carpet in order to save his own skin.’