Former government whip Chris Pincher’s conduct “was completely inappropriate, profoundly damaging to the individuals concerned, and represented an abuse of power”, an inquiry by Parliament’s standards watchdog found. Parliament’s standards watchdog has recommended a potentially by-election triggering eight-week suspension for former government whip Chris Pincher for “completely inappropriate” conduct.
The Standards Committee report said: “The breach we are considering is solely whether Mr Pincher has caused significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House as a whole, or of its Members generally. The perception that MPs can engage in such conduct with impunity does significantly impact public perception of the House and its Members.
“We therefore recommend that Mr Pincher be suspended from the service of the House for eight weeks.” Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner called on Chris Pincher to resign as an MP.
She said: “Chris Pincher’s actions are shocking. But what’s even worse, is the way the Conservative party protected him, even promoting him despite a previous investigation into his conduct.
“Chris Pincher should now do the decent thing and resign as an MP. The people of Tamworth and the surrounding villages deserve more from their Parliamentary representative.”
Mr Pincher resigned as a Government whip after the incident and subsequently lost the Tory whip, meaning he now sits in the Commons as an independent.
Former government whip Chris Pincher breached a paragraph of the MPs’ code of conduct stating that they should not “cause significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole, or of its Members generally”, Parliament’s standards watchdog said. The complainant, a House of Lords employee at the time, told the investigation that around midnight on June 30 last year Mr Pincher grabbed his forearm in the bar of the private members club “for longer than necessary”.
The MP went on to “stroke his neck” before he “squeezed the complainant’s bottom”, the report said. A civil servant who was a witness in the investigation said Mr Pincher touched his bottom before squeezing his testicles for several seconds.
The Standards Committee report said: “Mr Pincher’s conduct caused significant damage to the reputation of the Government and to the Prime Minister who appointed him. “But this was also an egregious case of sexual misconduct in the presence of several other MPs, two of whom thought the events represented so significant a breach of acceptable behaviour that they raised the matter immediately with the Chief Whip and provided witness statements.
“It is therefore self-evident that Mr Pincher’s conduct, which led to extensive public commentary in the media regarding the reputation and integrity of all MPs, had a significant negative impact on the reputation of the whole House.”
