Oris Johnson has faced questions over his delay in suspending the Tory whip of a MP accused of drunkenly groping two men at a private members’ club.
New allegations against Chris Pincher emerged after the prime minister succumbed to pressure when an investigation was launched Friday by Parliament’s sexual misconduct watchdog.
Pincher resigned as deputy head of the Tory when allegations of unwanted touching at London’s Carlton Club emerged a day earlier.
With the whip suspended, Pincher will sit as an independent in the House of Commons, but he remained MP for Tamworth in Staffordshire, despite opponents saying his position is untenable.
The Prime Minister had resisted calls to action until the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) launched an investigation after receiving a formal complaint.
Mr Johnson spoke to several individuals on Friday, including a Tory MP who was with one of the men allegedly groped by Mr Pincher, a Downing Street source said.
“The account given was disturbing enough to make the prime minister more troubled by all of this,” the source told the PA news agency.
Further claims were made against Mr Pincher, with the Times reporting that a young Tory activist received an unwelcome sexual advance last year.
In the absence of formal complaints, it was not appropriate to suspend an appointment on baseless allegations.
The activist said the MP put his hand on his knee and told him he would “go far in the party” at a party conference event last year.
Mr Pincher’s lawyers told the newspaper he strenuously denies the charge, reflecting a complaint that led to the MP first resigning from the whips office in 2017.
Former Olympic rower and Conservative candidate Alex Story claimed Pincher touched him while making an unwanted pass and using similar language.
Mr Pincher was reinstated as a senior whip two months later by Theresa May, after referring himself to both the police and the Conservative Party grievance procedure.
Downing Street seemed to recognize that there had been concerns when he was appointed to the whips office in February, with responsibility for discipline towards Tory MPs.
However, a spokesperson for No. 10 said the Prime Minister had not been notified of anything that would have prevented the nomination.
“In the absence of formal complaints, it was not appropriate to cancel an appointment based on unsubstantiated allegations,” the spokesperson said.
Tory Andrew Bridgen suggested Downing Street was guilty of “double standards” in the differential treatment of the “arch-loyalist” and Neil Parish, the Conservative who was forced to resign as MP after admitting to pornography in the Commons to have watched.
Mr Bridgen said No 10’s action had been inadequate, telling BBC Newsnight: “For those looking to maintain or even regain confidence in the Prime Minister, it has been a particularly bad day.
“Neil was a very independent back-seat conservative, he never really sought support and held ministers to account. Chris Pincher is seen as arch-loyal and I think for most people that will be the reason for the difference in their treatment. And that is also not sustainable.”
The backbencher said allegations about Mr Pincher have been “floating around Westminster for years” and would likely have been known by the whips office, which he described as the “eyes and ears” of No. 10.
Caroline Nokes and Karen Bradley, two high-ranking Tory MPs who chair the selected House of Commons committees, called on Johnson to adopt a ‘zero tolerance’ policy on claims of sexual misconduct.
Pincher was brought in alongside head whip Chris Heaton-Harris, another trusted ally, to bolster support for the prime minister amid growing unrest among Tory MPs over the revelations of lockdown celebrations in Downing Street.
But he was now replaced by former Housing Secretary Kelly Tolhurst, the Member of Parliament for Rochester and Strood.
The latest allegations came after the Conservative Party was hit by a string of sexual misconduct scandals.
In May, Mr Parish stepped down as MP for Tiverton and Honiton after admitting to viewing pornography in the Commons chamber, while last month Wakefield MP Imran Ahmad Khan was sentenced to 18 months in prison for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
In both cases, the Conservatives lost the subsequent midterm elections.
A third unnamed Conservative MP has been whipped to stay away from parliament after being arrested on suspicion of rape and other crimes.
In his letter of resignation to the Prime Minister, Mr Pincher apologized for his behaviour.
“Last night I drank way too much. I have embarrassed myself and other people which is the last thing I want to do and for that I apologize to you and those involved,” he said.