When asked about charges involving Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher, Diane Abbott made the baseless claim that Boris Johnson “is rumored to adore attacking women” and accused him of hypocrisy.
While discussing claims that Mr. Pincher grabbed two men in a London bar, the Labour MP made the statement about the Prime Minister while appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House.
The former shadow home secretary responded, “It might be regarded differently,” when asked if Mr. Pincher’s alleged groping of two men would have been treated differently from a man sexually assaulting a woman.
She continued, though, and made an unproven accusation against the Prime Minister.
“But that’s because Boris Johnson has been rumored to be the one who likes attacking women,” the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP remarked. Thus, it is blatant hypocrisy on his part.
Paddy O’Connell soon jumped in to correct the report, saying, “Anything hasn’t been printed this morning, and the BBC isn’t saying that.”
Diane, you need to respond to my inquiries rather than making further assertions.
In order to remove the section, the BBC temporarily removed the show from its catch-up service.
A representative stated: “We are modifying today’s episode of Broadcasting House for editorial reasons,” the statement read.
We are attempting to get it to listeners as quickly as we can.
The majority of the interview, in which Abbott quipped, “Pincher by name, pincher by nature,” is still playable in the version that is now available.
‘I think that we certainly know more about it now than we knew thirty years ago,’ she said in response to the question of whether the type of behavior implicated in the allegations against Mr. Pincher have always been a problem in Parliament.
“When I first started serving as an MP, there was very much the feeling that Westminster was a club and that what happened in Westminster stayed in Westminster, but with online, twitter it’s extremely hard to keep things a secret.”
Ms. Abbott also supported the idea of an independent HR system for Parliament and welcomed the rise in “transparency” when it came to reporting sexual harassment charges.
When she claimed male staffers would have been much less likely to contact the Whips’ Office a few decades ago, she added the fact that complaints had been submitted to the parliamentary authorities demonstrated progress.
Downing Street opted not to respond.