About time
MP for Tamworth Chris Pincher has had the Conservative whip removed following allegations of sexual misconduct.
A spokesperson for the Chief Whip said: “Having heard that a formal complaint has been made to the ICGS, the PM has agreed with the Chief Whip that the whip should be suspended from Chris Pincher while the investigation is ongoing.”
Earlier on Friday, a Downing Street spokesperson had described the matter as “closed” – but in the interim it’s understood the prime minister spoke to Conservative MPs who had been witnessed the matter at the Carlton Club on Wednesday.
Boris Johnson has now said he agrees that the Conservative whip should be suspended while Pincher is under investigation by the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, a Tory spokesperson confirmed.
On Thursday, Johnson’s deputy chief whip resigned from government following an allegation of groping.
In a letter to the prime minister, Pincher said he had drunk “far too much” and had “embarrassed myself and other people” on a night out.
“I apologise to you and to those concerned,” he wrote.
According to government sources, Pincher “groped two men in front of others” at the Carlton Club in the St James’s area of central London – one of those groped is understood to be an MP.
His departure comes less than a week after former Tory chairman Oliver Dowden stood down from government over two by-election defeats.
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