In case you missed it earlier, one of Boris Johnson’s close allies, Chris Pincher, has been suspended as a Conservative MP and will be investigated by parliament’s complaints watchdog after allegations he drunkenly groped two men.
Pincher, who resigned as deputy chief whip on Thursday, was reported to the independent complaints and grievance scheme, which looks into allegations of misconduct by MPs.
The referral prompted the chief whip, Chris Heaton-Harris, to suspend the whip from his own former deputy after almost 24 hours of pressure on Johnson to act against Pincher.
With the MP suspended, the spotlight has turned on what the prime minister knew about allegations against Pincher, who had previously resigned from the whips’ office in 2017 following claims he made unwanted passes at a Tory colleague and acted like a “poundshop Harvey Weinstein”. He was cleared of wrongdoing in a party investigation.
On Friday, the prime minister’s official spokesperson denied he had known about “specific” claims before appointing him as deputy chief whip in February.
