Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson knew a misconduct complaint had been upheld against Chris Pincher when he promoted him to the whips’ office, No 10 has admitted.But the prime minister’s spokesman denied Downing Street “lied’ when it claimed, last week, that he was unaware of any “specific allegations” against the minister. Mr Johnson did not originally “recall” being told about the complaint, he said, adding it was “a brief conversation that took place around three years ago”.The spokesman also conceded the prime minister was told of a separate allegation – when Mr Pincher was promoted in February – but argued that was “unsubstantiated”.The latest twist to No 10’s version of events comes after the devastating intervention by a former head of the Foreign Office – who revealed Mr Johnson was briefed about the complaint in 2019.In a letter, Simon McDonald wrote: “Mr Pincher deceived me and others in 2019. He cannot be allowed to use the confidentiality of the process three years ago to pursue his predatory behaviour in other contexts.”But the prime minister’s spokesman continued to insist the information about Mr Pincher’s behaviour was no reason to bar him from the job as deputy chief whip, with responsibility for Tory MP’s welfare.He rejected an allegation that he sacrificed a duty of care to MPs and others in order to get his “fixer” into the role, as he fought off attempts to bring him down over the Partygate scandal.David Lammy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, leapt on Mr Johnson’s claim that he was unable to remember being told about Mr Pincher’s behaviour.“Let that sink in. The prime minister’s defence for promoting Pincher despite the complaint is seriously that he forgot,” he tweeted.But Mr Johnson’s spokesman insisted No 10 had not misled the public, arguing it “takes some time to establish he was briefed” about the complaint.“This dates back a number of years. On Friday, it was our belief that he was not informed about that specific incident,” he said.And he continued to defend the appointment, saying: “It was not raised as a disciplinary issue or anything related to the ministerial code and the prime minister was informed but not asked to take any action.”The spokesman also denied it is misleading to still claim the complaint was “resolved – when it is now known it was upheld – arguing that is the “terminology that was used”.The latest scandal to rock No 10 has reignited the determination of Tory rebels to remove Mr Johnson, but there can be no new no-confidence vote for a year unless party rules are changed.The rebels will aim to seize control of the executive of the 1922 Committee in next week’s elections, in order to try to do that. More

The latest scandal to hit British Prime Minister Boris Johnson deepened Tuesday as a former top civil servant publicly said Johnson’s office wasn’t telling the truth about how he handled allegations of misconduct against a senior member of his government.Johnson has been under pressure to explain what he knew about previous allegations of misconduct by lawmaker Chris Pincher since Thursday, when Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip amid complaints that he groped two men at a private club.The government’s explanation has shifted repeatedly over the past five days, with ministers initially saying Johnson wasn’t aware of earlier allegations of sexual misconduct in February, when he promoted Pincher to the post of deputy chief whip. By Monday, a spokesman said Johnson knew of allegations that were “either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint.”That did not sit well with Simon McDonald, the most senior civil servant at the Foreign Office from 2015 to 2020. In a highly unusual move, he said Tuesday that the prime minister’s office still wasn’t telling the truth. In a letter to the parliamentary commissioner for standards, McDonald said he received complaints about Pincher’s behavior in the summer of 2019, shortly after Pincher became a Foreign Office minister. An investigation upheld the complaint and Pincher apologized for his actions, McDonald said. McDonald also disputed suggestions that Johnson was either unaware of the allegations or that they could be dismissed because they were either resolved or had not been made formally.“The original No. 10 line is not true and the modification is still not accurate,” McDonald wrote. “Mr. Johnson was briefed in person about the initiation and outcome of the investigation. “There was a ‘formal complaint.’ Allegations were ‘resolved’ only in the sense that the investigation was completed; Mr. Pincher was not exonerated. To characterize the allegations as ‘unsubstantiated’ is therefore wrong.”When asked about the letter, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said he didn’t know whether Johnson had been told about the Foreign Office investigation. Raab was foreign secretary at the time and worked with McDonald on the inquiry.“That’s news to me,” Raab told the BBC when asked about McDonald’s assertion that Johnson was told about the investigation. “I wasn’t aware of that, and it’s not clear to me that that is factually accurate.”The latest revelations are fueling discontent within Johnson’s Cabinet after ministers were forced to publicly deliver the prime minister’s denials, only to have the explanation shift the next day.The Times of London on Tuesday published an analysis of the situation under the headline “Claim of lying puts Boris Johnson in peril.”The scandal comes a month after Johnson survived a vote of no confidence in which more than 40% of Conservative Party lawmakers voted to remove him from office. Concerns about Johnson’s leadership were fueled by the prime minister’s shifting responses to months of allegations about lockdown-breaking parties in government offices that ultimately resulted in 126 fines, including one levied against Johnson.Two weeks later, Conservative candidates were badly beaten in two by-elections to fill vacant seats in Parliament, adding to discontent with Johnson’s leadership.Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip, a key position in enforcing party discipline, on Thursday, telling the prime minister that he “drank far too much” the previous night and had “embarrassed myself and other people.”Johnson initially refused to take the further step of suspending Pincher from the Conservative Party, but he relented after a formal complaint about the groping allegations was filed with parliamentary authorities. Critics suggest Johnson was slow to react to the scandal because he didn’t want to risk forcing Pincher to resign, setting up another potential special election defeat for the Conservatives.Even before the Pincher scandal, suggestions were swirling that Johnson may soon face another vote of no confidence. In the next few weeks, Conservative lawmakers will elect new members to the committee that sets parliamentary rules for the party. Several candidates have suggested they would support changing the rules to allow for another vote of no confidence, which is barred for 12 months under the existing rules. Senior Conservative lawmaker Roger Gale, a long-standing critic of Johnson, said he will now support a change of the rules of the Conservative 1922 Committee to allow the vote.“Mr. Johnson has for three days now been sending ministers — in one case a Cabinet minister — out to defend the indefensible, effectively to lie on his behalf. That cannot be allowed to continue,” he told the BBC. “This prime minister has trashed the reputation of a proud and honorable party for honesty and decency, and that is not acceptable. More

One of Boris Johnson’s ministers has publicly criticised the government’s decision to freeze the civil service graduate fast stream for at least year, saying it “makes no sense”.The comments from Greg Hands come after it was revealed the highly competitive scheme would be suspended as part of Mr Johnson’s controversial plans to reduce the civil service heacount by a fifth.He told the cabinet in May that “we have got to cut the cost of government to reduce the cost of living”, as he outlined proposals to cut the civil service to 2016 levels – a reduction of 91,000 staff.Leaked minutes from a meeting the same month showed the prime minister’s chief-of-staff and Cabinet Office minister Stephen Barclay confirmed the plan to pause the civil service fast stream “for at least a year”.In 2021, there were over 59,000 applications for the civil service fast stream, with just over 1,000 people appointed to various schemes, including project delivery and the diplomatic services.With the application website now confirming the move to freeze the scheme for the 2023 intake, Mr Hands, an energy minister, made clear his opposition on social media on Monday evening. “It makes perfect sense to control the size of government and ask why & where it has grown since 2016,” he said, but added: “It makes no sense to say, like this, that for one year, the best and the brightest aren’t welcome to serve their country”.Responding to Mr Hands’s comments, the former Tory cabinet minister Julian Smith, who said: “Totally agree. “Losing a great opportunity to harness young talent & pulling up the ladder to those young people who want to serve our nation. Bonkers”.The decision was also condemned by the former Conservative leader William Hague, who described the decision in June in article for The Times as the “wrong choice” and said the government had “opted for retrenchment”.When the move was confirmed earlier this year, a government spokesperson said: “As the prime minister has made clear, the civil service works hard to implement the government’s agenda and deliver for the public.“Our focus is on having a civil service that has the skills and capabilities to continue delivering outstanding public services, which is exactly why we have changed recruitment rules to bring in the very best talent and are investing in the professional development of our people”.They added: “It is crucial that all aspects of taxpayer spending demonstrates efficiency and value for money.“It was right to grow the civil service to deliver Brexit and deal with the pandemic, but we must now return it to 2016 staffing levels and have asked all government departments to set out how this might be achieved.” More

Conservative MPs feel “very sorry” for Tory MP Chris Pincher and believe he is a “victim in his own way”, one of his colleague has said.Mr Pincher quit as a government whip this week and lost the Conservative whip after he allegedly groped two men in a private members’ club.The allegation is the latest agains the MP, an earlier on of which led to an investigation by Whitehall authorities in 2019. Speaking on BBC Radio 5Live Michael Fabricant, who represents the constituency of Lichfield next to Mr Pincher’s in Tamworth, said:”On the one hand, of course, we’re all very sorry for people who’ve been affected by Chris’s action’s but we also quite frankly feel very sorry for Chris in many ways.”This is being driven most of the time, it seems by drink, and I know now that he’s actually sought and is already in contact with the clinical psychiatrists regarding regarding treatment.”When it was suggested to Mr Fabricant that drinking alcohol was not an excuse to the Conservative MP’s behaviour, he replied:”Of course not, but it’s an explanation. And, you know, that’s why many of us do feel that Chris, sadly, you know, is also in his own way, a victim.”After claiming Mr Pincher was a victim, Mr Fabricant repeatedly questioned whether it was appropriate to use the word “victim” regarding people who had made complaints against Mr Pincher.He said that the word “victim” to him “always seems very extreme word to use” in cases such as Mr Pincher’s, and later said he was “using [the word] ‘victims’ in inverted commas” with regards to the MP’s accusers. He cast doubt on the accusations levelled against the Tamworth MP and claimed some accusers had retracted their statements, though he did not give examples.Mr Fabricant also put Mr Pincher’s actions down to “the nature of the long hours” of being an MP, which he said made it hard to have a family life.”I’m saying that nothing is black and white in this world if only it was that simple. It isn’t that simple,” he said.”It does make me wonder precisely, you know, who is the guilty party who is the innocent party and whether it is wholly that Chris Pincher is someone you know, who is in that position.”The scandal over the MP’s alleged behaviour escalated to Downing Street on Tuesday morning after the former Tory civil servant at the foreign office accused No 10 of not telling the truth.Lord McDonald, who was head of the diplomatic service at the time Mr Pincher was subject to a formal complaint, about his behaviour said it was said it was “not true” that Mr Johnson was not aware of the allegations.Downing Street had previously claimed the prime minister was not across the claims before he appointed Mr Pincher deputy chief whip.But in a letter to the parliamentary standards commissioner Lord McDonald said: “Mr Johnson was briefed in person about the initiative and outcome of the investigation. There was a ‘formal complaint.”Allegations were ‘resolved’ only in the sense that the investigation was completed. Mr Pincher was not exonerated. To characterise the allegations as ‘unsubstantiated’ is therefore wrong.”Speaking in BBC Radio 4’s Today programme after the release of his letter, he added: “I think they need to come clean.”Mr Pincher who is yet to resign his seat in the Commons, said he “drank far too much” and “embarrassed myself and other people” by his actions. More

Downing Street is not telling the truth about whether Boris Johnson was warned about alleged “predatory behaviour” by one of his Tory ministers, a former top civil servant has said.Lord McDonald, who ran the foreign office at the time the complaint was made against Chris Pincher, said No 10 “keep changing their story and are still not telling the truth”.Downing Street previously claimed the prime minister was not aware of any specific allegations when he appointed Mr Pincher to be his deputy chief whip, and that “that it was deemed not appropriate to stop an appointment simply because of unsubstantiated allegations”.But the ex permanent secretary, who was in charge at the time complaints were made about Mr Pincher in summer 2019, said it was “not true” that Mr Johnson was not aware of the specifics.”Mr Johnson was briefed in person about the initiative and outcome of the investigation. There was a ‘formal complaint’,” the former head of the diplomatic service said in a letter to Katherine Stone, the parliamentary standards commissioner.”Allegations were ‘resolved’ only in the sense that the investigation was completed. Mr Pincher was not exonerated. To characterise the allegations as ‘unsubstantiated’ is therefore wrong.”Lord McDonald, who is now a crossbench peer, in his letter to the standards commissioner that he was “aware that is unusual to write to you and simultaneously publicise the letter”. “I am conscious of the duty owed to the target of an investigation but I act out of of my duty towards the victims,” he said, claiming that “Mr Pincher deceived me and others in 2019”. Speaking in BBC Radio 4’s Today programme after the release of his letter, he said: “I think they need to come clean. I think that the language is ambiguous. It’s sort of telling the truth and crossing your fingers at the same time and hoping that people are not too forensic in their subsequent questioning. And I think that is not working.”He added: “I dispute the use of the word ‘resolved’. For me ‘resolved’ is too positive a word. It sounds as though a happy and agreed conclusion was reached. No, the complaint was upheld. So to leave the impression that in some way Mr Pincher was exonerated is wrong.”Asked why he had intervened publicly, he said: “First of all, Number 10 have had five full days to get the story correct, and that has still not happened. And second, I do not approve of anonymous briefings behind the scenes. If I was to do this, I should put my name to it rather than just phone a journalist and tip them off.”The scrutiny of what the prime minister and other top Tories knew comes after Mr Pincher resigned his senior government job and lost the Tory whip after allegations that he groped two men in a private members’ club. The MP, who is yet to resign his seat in the Commons, said he “drank far too much” and “embarrassed myself and other people”.The deputy prime minister Dominic Raab on Tuesday morning admitted letting Mr Pincher off with a warning after the earlier complaint.Mr Raab, who was foreign secretary at the time said the minister was told he should “desist” from his alleged behaviour.”There was a complaint made by someone that worked with him about inappropriate behaviour. I swiftly agreed with the permanent secretary Simon McDonald at the time, that that ought to be reviewed under the civil service’s auspices to make sure it was done without fear or favour. “It came back and did not recommend formal disciplinary action. And it should be said that the individual who made the complaint that did not want that. I spoke to Chris Pincher about the inappropriate behaviour, made it clear in no uncertain terms it should desist, it must never be repeated. So did the permanent secretary. For additional assurance, because I take this so seriously. “I also referred it to the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team which also looked at it for example, to see whether action were warranted under the ministerial code. They didn’t, they agreed that it didn’t warrant that. “So although there was a complaint made about inappropriate behaviour, it did not trigger the disciplinary action either at the civil service level, or the cabinet office level in relation to the code of conduct. “So I not only followed it to the strict letter, I went beyond that and sought the assurance. Why? Because I think it’s so important that people that make complaints feel can have the confidence to come forward.”Reacting to Lord McDonald’s comments, Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader said it was clear the prime minister had “lied”.“Boris Johnson’s desperate attempts to cover up what he knew about sexual assault complaints against Chris Pincher before appointing him have been blown out the water,” she said.“It is now clear that the Prime Minister knew about the seriousness of these complaints but decided to promote this man to a senior position in government anyway. He refused to act and then lied about what he knew.“Boris Johnson is dragging British democracy through the muck. His appalling judgement has made Westminster a less safe place to work.“ More

Priti Patel has urged police to use new powers to shut down protests after fuel price campaigners held up highways around the country, according to reports.At least 13 protesters were arrested on Monday for driving too slowly when blocking roads in a call for fuel duty to be slashed to slow the soaring cost of filling up a car.The so-called “go-slow” protests spread across Britain’s road network. Most of the arrests took place on the M4 though drivers also protested on the M54, M62, A38 and several other roads.Controversial new laws which came into effect on 28 June give police increased powers to deal with protests deemed to be causing serious disruption.The laws were introduced in response to Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain environmental protests which blocked roads en masse.Along with giving police greater powers of dispersal, the government has increased penalties for protesters. While “Wilful obstruction of the highway” used to be punishable by a maximum fine of £50, it now carries up to a six month prison sentence and/or an unlimited fine.After a day of 30mph traffic on the motorways, Priti Patel was reportedly moved to remind police of their new powers. More

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he is not “advocating the status quo” on Brexit as he ruled out rejoining the EU’s single market or customs union if Labour wins the next general election.The Labour leader also sidestepped a question over whether he was effectively accepting a hard Brexit, but set out a five-point plan to fix the “hulking ‘fatberg’ of red tape and bureaucracy” under the deal brokered by Boris Johnson.Sir Keir’s remarks came after a speech at the Irish embassy during which he vowed that Britain would not join the single market, restore freedom of movement, or seek to go back into the EU under a future Labour government.In his first major intervention into the Brexit debate in months, the Labour leader said: “There are some who say ‘we don’t need to make Brexit work – we need to reverse it’. I couldn’t disagree more.”He acknowledged some may not want to hear that Britain would not return to the single market or a customs union under Labour, but added “it is my job to be frank and honest”.Setting out his plan to “make Brexit work” at the event hosted by the Centre for European Reform thinktank, Sir Keir pledged to make the existing “poor deal” work by first fixing the Northern Ireland Protocol.The party would eliminate “most border checks created by the Tory Brexit deal”, he said, and implement a “new veterinary agreement for agri-products between the UK and EU”.It would also work with business to put in place a “better scheme” to allow low-risk goods to enter Northern Ireland without “unnecessary checks”, he claimed.Asked by The Independent after his speech whether he was effectively accepting a hard Brexit by ruling out a return to the single market or customs union, the Labour leader said: “I’m putting forward a way of making Brexit work.“All the government has done is said the words ‘get Brexit done’ and negotiated a deal which is holding us back. What I want is a plan to make Brexit work and that’s what I’ve set out.”Pressed on whether it was “leadership to accept the status quo”, he also told journalists on Monday: “I’m not advocating the status quo. On the contrary I’m saying the status quo, the government’s deal, is holding us back.”While some Labour MPs welcomed Sir Keir’s intervention on Brexit on Monday, backbencher Rosie Duffield posted during the speech on social media “not in my name” alongside an emoji of the European Union flag.Asked what he would say to his backbench critics, Sir Keir also told journalists: “Look, we’re out of the EU, we’ve got to, and we will make Brexit work. You can’t move forward by constantly looking over your shoulder at the past. “I don’t think there’s an argument that reopening the divisions of the last few years is a recipe for growing our economy.”He added: “Whichever way we vote, we’re out. My plan is to look forward and make Brexit work. The driving purpose behind this is growing the economy. We’re stagnant as an economy.”Before Sir Keir delivered his speech, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit opportunities minister, accused the Labour leader of a “half-cock” attempt at copying the Conservatives’ plans.He told LBC: “I’m fascinated by what he’s got to say, or reports of it … and what he wants to do, by and large, is things either that the Conservatives are doing (because) they want to change the Northern Ireland Protocol, so I hope he’ll support us on our Bill.“And he wants recognition of qualifications, which we’ve already legislated for. So you do wonder if he was half asleep last year.“I think all that Sir Keir is going to be saying later on today is that he wants to do what the Conservatives are doing but half-cock, so it’s not much of an announcement by him today.”The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford also claimed the Labour Party is now “indistinguishable from the Tories on Brexit”, adding: “Keir Starmer has strengthened the case for independence by embracing the Tories’ hard Brexit”. More

Boris Johnson was given a “first-hand account” of inappropriate sexual behaviour by Chris Pincher before his appointment to the role of deputy chief whip, The Independent has learned.The prime minister was told about specific claims against the Tory MP on at least two occasions, according to a senior Downing Street source.No 10 declined to comment on both alleged conversations.Claims of what Mr Johnson knew and when came as his official spokesperson sought to qualify previous statements that suggested the prime minister was unaware of specific allegations regarding Mr Pincher’s conduct.The first conversation alleging “inappropriate sexual touching” on the part of Mr Pincher took place in early February this year, shortly before his formal appointment to deputy chief whip on 8 February, it is claimed.His alleged misconduct was raised again in May when reports emerged of inappropriate behaviour of an unnamed MP, which was later revealed to be the former deputy chief whip, the source told The Independent.Asked about Mr Pincher’s conduct, the No 10 staffer said: “The prime minister was made directly aware of a first-hand account of inappropriate sexual touching. He was told in early February and also in May.”It comes as Sky News reported that Carrie Johnson openly questioned Mr Pincher’s suitability as a government whip as early as 2017.Mr Pincher has firmly denied a slew of allegations related to groping fellow MPs, activists and others which have emerged since he resigned as deputy chief whip after admitting drinking too much and embarrassing himself and others at the Carlton Club last week.Over the weekend one Tory MP told The Independent how he had been groped on two occasions by Mr Pincher, including having his genitals touched over his clothes. The No 10 spokesman on Monday said the prime minister was aware of “media reports” and “allegations that were either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint”.They added that in the absence of a formal complaint “it was deemed not appropriate to stop an appointment on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations”.The spokesman was also unable to say what, if any, efforts were made to establish if allegations could be substantiated – and indicated Mr Pincher was not asked about them directly.Downing Street has not denied an allegation from former top aide Dominic Cummings that the prime minister had referred to the former deputy chief whip as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” ahead of his appointment to the role.Instead, the spokesman said he would not comment on the content of private conversations.The scandal comes as No 10 is preparing for a fresh of round elections to the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs. The elections could present another challenge to Mr Johnson’s premiership, with some outspoken rebels warning they intend to stand.Mr Pincher had the Whip removed from him on Friday, so he can no longer sit as a Conservative MP in the house of commons. The suspension will be in force pending the outcome of an investigation from parliament’s independent complaints service.The former deputy chief whip, who held a sensitive role overseeing party discipline within parliament, stood down after it was alleged that he groped two men at the tory-linked Carlton Club, a private members club in central London.In his resignation letter, Mr Pincher wrote that he “drank far too much” and embarrassed himself and others.However, over the weekend he indicated an intention to remain an MP. He said in a statement that he would seek professional medical support.“I am in the process of seeking that now, and I hope to be able to return to my constituency duties as soon as possible,” he said.It could be several months before the investigation into the most recent complaint against Mr Pincher concludes.The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme was set up in the wake of the “Pestminster” scandal to deal with complaints relating to bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct by MPs, peers and parliamentary staff.However, figures show that the average length of investigation closed in 2020-21 lasted 196 working days, while the longest inquiry took 572 working days to conclude – representing more than two years.The string of allegations in news reports over the weekend, all denied by Mr Pincher, span a course of several years.The Mail on Sunday carried claims that he made unwanted advances against an individual a decade ago.The Sunday Times reported allegations that Mr Pincher had groped a male Tory MP in 2017, made unwanted advances towards a different Conservative MP in 2018, and did the same towards a Tory activist in Tamworth in 2019. More