Number 10 revealed today as a heated Tory sleaze crisis escalated that Boris Johnson was aware of a former complaint about the behavior of humiliated MP Chris Pincher while he was a minister.
Downing Street made the revelation as Conservative MPs sparred in the Commons over the controversy, despite prior claims that the Prime Minister was unaware of any “particular allegations” when appointing Mr. Pincher as deputy chief whip earlier this year.
Following allegations that he inappropriately touched two men at an upscale London members’ club while intoxicated, Mr. Pincher resigned last week as deputy chief whip.
A number of new allegations against the 52-year-old Conservative politician that span several years have surfaced, and he is currently also under suspension from his position as an MP.
As a result of No. 10’s contradictory statements regarding what the PM knew or did not know about Mr. Pincher’s prior behaviour, the most recent Westminster sleaze controversy has once again raised concerns for Mr. Johnson’s political future.
A former senior civil worker wrote a bombshell letter to a parliamentary watchdog today, accusing No. 10 of “keeping altering their story and are still not telling the truth,” giving Mr. Johnson’s detractors more ammo.
Later, Downing Street acknowledged Simon McDonald, a former senior Foreign Office employee, was correct when he said the PM had been informed of a complaint regarding Mr. Pincher in 2019 while he was a Foreign Office minister.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis was grilled in the Commons over the controversy as No. 10 announced its most recent stance on what the PM knew about Mr. Pincher’s alleged behavior.
William Wragg, a senior Tory MP and outspoken Mr. Johnson opponent, used Mr. Ellis’ appearance before lawmakers to call on ministers to think about leaving their positions.
He advised them to “consider if they can still bear being a member of a Government” that has “lost its sense of purpose.”
But Mr. Johnson’s allies in Congress retaliated, with leading Brexiteer Peter Bone questioning if voters were more concerned about a member of Congress “they’ve never heard of” or government assistance during the current cost-of-living crisis.
As Mr. Johnson and his Government deal with the latest controversy, there were significantly fewer Tory MPs in the Commons compared to the crowded Labour benches.
This morning, the PM presided over a meeting of the Cabinet and spoke with Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, in a call that No. 10 insisted was “planned.”
The most recent scandal has given Tory rebels more motivation to push for the PM’s resignation.
now aim to break party rules to allow a second no-confidence vote in response to Mr. Johnson’s warning.
Unusually rebellious northern Tory MP sent a grim warning to the PM that his time in government was running out.
The party has had enough, they said, according to MailOnline. If Boris makes it until Christmas, I’ll be amazed.
The issue is more with No. 10’s incompetence than Chris, Added falsehoods Either Boris wins, or more than a hundred of his coworkers lose.
Earlier, Lord McDonald’s admission that Mr. Johnson had been informed “in person” about a previous “formal complaint” against Mr. Pincher caught deputy prime minister Dominic Raab off guard in a TV interview.
After criticizing No. 10’s handling of the most recent Westminster sleaze scandal, the former top civil servant grilled the Deputy Prime Minister on BBC Breakfast.
The Foreign Office received a complaint regarding Mr. Pincher’s conduct while he was a minister in the department, according to Lord McDonald.
Lord McDonald penned the following letter to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards: “The original No10 line is not factual and the adjustment is still not truthful. Mr. Johnson received a personal update on the start and conclusion of the investigation.
A “formal complaint” was made. Only in the sense that the investigation was over and Mr. Pincher was not cleared, were the allegations “settled.”
“It is therefore incorrect to characterize the charges as “unsubstantiated.”
Mr. Pincher “deceived me and others in 2019,” according to Lord McDonald, who also added that he “cannot be allowed to utilize the anonymity of the process from three years ago to pursue his predatory behaviour in other situations.”
In the course of his morning TV and radio interviews, Mr. Raab was questioned about Lord McDonald’s assertions shortly after the crossbench lord posted his letter on Twitter.
The Deputy PM, who was Foreign Secretary at the time of the 2019 allegation, stated that he was “quite confident” in the choices made at the time and claimed that by submitting the complaint to the Cabinet Office, he went “above and above” Lord McDonald’s instructions to him.
When a previous complaint about Mr. Pincher’s behavior was made, Mr. Raab previously acknowledged that he “spoke to” him “in no uncertain terms,” but he defended him as a “outstanding” minister.
We knew what happened was wrong, but we were able to address it without resorting to a formal disciplinary procedure, he said on LBC Radio.
I forwarded it to the Cabinet Office to get that guarantee, saying, “I spoke personally to Chris Pincher in no uncertain terms.”
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner responded to Lord McDonald’s letter by saying the PM’s “desperate attempts to cover up what he knew about sexual assault complaints against Chris Pincher before selecting him have been blown out of the water.”
It is now evident that the PM chose to elevate this man to a top position in government despite being aware of the gravity of these concerns. He lied about what he knew after refusing to take action, she continued.
In response to the peer’s letter, the Liberal Democrats urged the PM to “own up to his web of lies and finally come clean today.”
Tobias Ellwood, a prominent Conservative MP and opponent of the prime minister, demanded a reaction from Mr. Johnson and No. 10 to Lord McDonald’s assertions.
“They need to realize the scope and gravity of the story and, in fact, get ahead of it,” he said in a statement to Sky News.
It consistently takes up all of the news coverage.
Ministers, according to Mr. Ellwood, are given briefings that “only last a few hours before they have to be revised” before they are thrown out in front of the media.
When speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today program later this morning, Lord McDonald resumed his attack on No. 10 by saying, “It is quite unusual for a retired official to do what I have done this morning.”
“I did it alone because I recognized what I had seen and read over the past few days to be false,” the person said. And you know, there comes a time when you have to act morally.
First of all, No. 10 has had five full days to get the narrative right, but that hasn’t happened, he said.
dislodge Mr. Johnson from Number 10, have been inspired to start a new campaign to remove the PM in the wake of the recent sleaze controversy.
To enable Mr. Johnson to soon face a second no confidence vote, they plan to alter Conservative Party regulations.
This is true even though the PM last month prevailed in a contest over his leadership, which gave him a 12-month period of immunity from further challenges under the current system.
As part of the dissident scheme, they will compete with PM supporters for important positions on the 1922 Committee, the influential Tory group in control of leadership elections.
However, since the 1922 executive elections won’t take place until next week and the MPs won’t return from their summer vacation until the end of the month, Mr. Johnson is likely to avoid another widespread uprising until the fall.
The northern MP prophesied that the uprising against the PM’s leadership would “come to a head in the three weeks in September” prior to the Tory conference in Birmingham, telling Mr. Johnson he would be out of government by Christmas.
They claimed that there was “no chance” that No. 10 was thinking the summer break would operate as a firebreak to stop rebel efforts to remove Mr. Johnson.
One seasoned Tory official referred to No. 10’s mishandling of the issue as “unbelievable.”
They told MailOnline that “their modus operandi has always been to issue flat-out denials no matter what.” It has at last caught up with them.
After receiving criticism from some of his top ministers for how he handled the Pincher row, the prime minister presided over a Cabinet meeting this morning.
According to rumors, Mr. Johnson made a joke about the “handsy” MP being a “Pincher by name, pincher by nature.”
During today’s meeting, Mr. Johnson will highlight the agony that the rising cost of living is inflicting for British citizens.
Changes to the National Insurance criteria, which are set to take effect tomorrow, will be hailed by the prime minister as “the single biggest tax cut in a decade.”
“Tomorrow is a crucial moment in our mission to lighten the burden on people and rebuild our economy, as the single biggest tax cut in a decade comes into place,” Mr. Johnson stated before to today’s Cabinet meeting.
Around 30 million British workers would save up to £330 a year on their National Insurance contributions; the list of those who will profit is lengthy and includes everyone from hairdressers and care providers to receptionists.
To level and increase productivity across the entire nation, we are currently investing record sums in infrastructure, skills, and technology.
Because doing so will allow us to manage the expense of living responsibly and over the long term, avoid burdening our children with a huge mountain of debt, and pave the road for future tax cuts.
That is how my government plans to steer the nation through these trying times.
It will be Mr. Johnson’s most recent attempt to put the recent Tory sleaze controversy behind him after he returned to Britain last week following a nine-day absence from Westminster to attend the NATO, G7, and Commonwealth meetings.
It meant that Mr. Johnson was spared the consequences of two painful by-election losses.
However, after the resignation of Mr. Pincher as the Tory deputy chief whip, the PM returned to the UK at the end of the previous week to find even greater domestic unrest.