UK Politics

Parliament is not a safe environment for staff MPs have warned following growing controversy over Boris Johnson’s delay in suspending a senior politician facing groping allegations. Chris Pincher, the former deputy chief whip, resigned from his government job on Thursday night. But he remained a Conservative MP for another 24 hours until the prime minister finally bowed to pressure from furious Tory MPs to remove the party whip. As “pestminster” allegations engulf Westminster for the third time in five years, shadow armed forces minister Luke Pollard warned that Parliament was “not a safe place to work” and that “higher standards” were needed in politics, in an interview with Sky News. Meanwhile, a Conservative MP told The Independent he did not bring interns in to parliament and would let them work only in his constituency office. “Staffers and other people who work in the House of Commons should be able to expect a minimum standard of behaviour,” he said. “But they can’t.”Meanwhile, pressure is growing on Boris Johnson to say what he knew and when about allegations around Mr Pincher. His former chief of staff Dominic Cummings, a persistent thorn in the prime minister’s side, tweeted: “If [Johnson] didn’t know about Pincher as he’s claiming, why did he repeatedly refer to him laughingly in No 10 as ‘pincher by name pincher by nature’ long before appointing him.” Tory Andrew Bridgen accused Downing Street of “double standards” and suggested that because Mr Pincher was an “arch loyalist” he was treated differently from Neil Parish, the MP forced to stand down after he admitted watching pornography in the Commons. Mr Pincher dramatically resigned as deputy chief whip after claims emerged that he had groped two men in a private members’ club. A parliamentary watchdog will now examine allegations against him. Today he said he was seeking “professional medical support” and suggested he would take time away from some of his duties as an MP. In a statement, Mr Pincher, who now sits as an independent, said: “I respect the prime minister’s decision to suspend the whip whilst an inquiry is underway, and I will cooperate fully with it.“As I told the prime minister, I drank far too much on Wednesday night, embarrassing myself and others, and I am truly sorry for the upset I caused.“The stresses of the last few days, coming on top of those over the last several months, have made me accept that I will benefit from 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.”Since the first allegations emerged, further claims have been made. The Times reported a young Tory activist said he had received an unwanted sexual advance last year. The activist said the MP put his hand on his knee and told him he would “go far in the party” at last year’s party conference. Mr Pincher’s lawyers told the paper he firmly denied the allegation. In 2017 Mr Pincher also resigned from the whips office after ex-Olympic rower and Conservative candidate Alex Story alleged he touched him while making an unwanted pass.Mr Pincher said at the time: “I do not recognise either the events or the interpretation placed on them … if Mr Story has ever felt offended by anything I said then I can only apologise to him.”He was later cleared of breaching his party’s code of conduct over the allegations. More

Chris Pincher, the former deputy chief whip who resigned after he was accused of groping two men, has said he is seeking “professional medical support”. He also said he was “truly sorry” and would co-operate fully with the inquiry into his alleged behaviour at a private members’ club in London. He dramatically resigned from his government job on Thursday night after claims he groped two men in a private members’ club. But he remained a Conservative MP for another 24 hours until Boris Johnson finally bowed to pressure to remove the party whip.Now sitting as an independent, Mr Pincher is battling to remain in the House of Commons in the face of opposition from those who say his position is untenable.In a statement, he said: “I respect the Prime Minister’s decision to suspend the whip whilst an inquiry is underway, and I will co-operate fully with it.”As I told the Prime Minister, I drank far too much on Wednesday night, embarrassing myself and others, and I am truly sorry for the upset I caused.”The stresses of the last few days, coming on top of those over the last several months, have made me accept that I will benefit from 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.” More

A “badly wounded” Boris Johnson is prepared to risk a recession to shore up support from his party’s right, a top union chief has warned, amid signs the UK is heading for months of industrial unrest.Frances O’Grady, the leader of the TUC, also called on red-wall Tory MPs in former Labour-held seats to rise up and demand better pay rises for workers, or face the consequences at the ballot box. As inflation soars, the list of groups striking or threatening to strike is growing daily and already includes teachers, junior doctors, barristers and rail workers, as well as airport staff and Royal Mail managers.Ministers have guaranteed pensions and benefits claimants will receive rises of up to 10 per cent to keep up with inflation, while preparing to offer much smaller sums to public sector workers. The prime minister has said public pay cannot increase sharply, for fear of fuelling a further rise in inflation.But a new poll for The Independent shows significant support for strikes by public sector workers. It found 59 per cent of the public would back a strike by nurses, 48 per cent doctors, 46 per cent postal workers and 45 per cent railway staff, although just 24 per cent supported walkouts by barristers.Ms O’Grady told The Independent she believed the prime minister was “badly wounded” and “jerking around” to court favour with the likes of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic MPs, who she said “don’t care about the living standards of working people”, after nearly 150 of his own backbenchers tried to oust him from Downing Street last month. She said: “I think the truth is that the government is staring in the face of a recession [and] they are figuring out the story for that. They believe recession is a necessary price, and that it’s working people who will pay it rather than trying to get the economy back on its feet and recognising that to do that you’ve got to boost demand and … you’ve got to boost people’s pay packets.” The swathe of red-wall MPs who won former Labour strongholds at the last election with a message of getting Brexit done should warn the prime minister that workers need fair pay rises if they don’t want to be punished by voters, she added. MPs in newly Tory seats in the north “should be raising their voices”, she said. “Working people in their constituencies want stronger rights and they want a fair deal in their pay packets,” she said. When it comes to the next election, she said: “I’m sure their own constituents are asking what they’re doing, and holding them to account.” Ms O’Grady also suggested the Partygate scandal has eroded trust in government pleas for wage restraint. Workers “just don’t trust them any more”, she said. They could also be forgiven for being cynical having heard “we’re all in it together before” under the austerity years of David Cameron. She also said ministers should realise workers are at their “wits’ end” and called on Mr Johnson to look a nurse in the eye and explain how she is going to manage with a real-terms cut to her income when she is already struggling.Downing Street has been approached for comment. More

The Home Office has admitted a policy which campaigners warn could cause thousands of people, including the vulnerable, to lose their jobs or homes risks comparisons with the Windrush scandal.  The government requires employers and private landlords to check the immigration status of potential tenants and workers before offering them housing or employment. But changes to the rules, introduced in April, outlaw the use of paper documents – even those dated until 2030 – held by many people eligible to stay in the UK after Brexit.The Home Office was heavily criticised in 2018 after it emerged that hundreds of people welcomed to the UK decades before had been denied access to basic rights such as housing and work, with some even deported, due to a lack of official documentation. The government had destroyed thousands of paper landing cards recording the dates Windrush immigrants arrived in the UK, despite warnings the move would make it difficult for older Caribbean nationals to prove how long they had been in the country. Ministers subsequently apologised and pledged to “learn lessons” from what had happened to ensure that the problems would not repeat themselves. Four years on, in its own equality impact assessment for the new rules to digitalise rent and work checks, quietly published only after pressure from peers, the Home Office admits vulnerable people who are eligible for EU settled status but do not realise they have to apply risk being affected.  The document states that some individuals wrongly believe they can rely on Home Office-issued documents that don’t expire until well into the future.“There may be vulnerable people in this cohort,” it warns, “and whilst these individuals do not have lawful status, unlike the Windrush generation who were in the UK lawfully, comparisons might be drawn by the media if they are denied access to work and accommodation”.  Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said: “The Home Office has totally failed to learn the lessons of the Windrush scandal. Once again they are putting people’s homes, jobs and livelihoods at risk. “Requiring landlords and employers only to do online checks when many of them either can’t or won’t will create even more risk of unfair discrimination and hostile treatment. This is the opposite of the approach Wendy Williams recommended in the Windrush Review. “It is shocking that Home Office ministers have done this and is a betrayal of the commitments made both to EU citizens who have lived here for years and to the Windrush generation.”Luke Piper, legal director at charity the3million, said thousands of people eligible for EU settlement but who do not realise they need to apply will be affected by the move. “They had legal status before Brexit happened, then Brexit happened and took their rights away,” he added. “The Home Office said they had to apply and were saying at that time, very loudly, that not everybody is going to apply in time and they will feel the consequences of it. This is exactly that cohort.”“These people were living here lawfully, they had a legitimate expectation that they were allowed to stay, they didn’t follow an administrative process, and they’re now losing out on work, rent and other things that they would otherwise be entitled to. That’s pretty much identical to Windrush.”The assessment, written last October before the policy came into force, but only published last week, also admits that some people have not applied for EU settlement because they believe they can rely on physical documents, such as a biometric residence card (BRC), to prove their leave to remain.Employers or landlords can now be liable for a civil penalty if they accept the card as proof.“Some individuals believe they can rely on Home Office-issued documents that don’t expire until well into the future, such as an unexpired BRC (up to 2030) as evidence of lawful status,” the document states.“Posts on the Home Office Facebook page prior to the end of the grace period confirmed some believe they do not need to make an application until their BRC expires.”The assessment warns that by last June, 51,000 eligible people had not yet applied. The Home Office has declined to provide an updated figure.The ban on physical documents has come about because ministers want to make the entire border and immigration system “digital by default” by 2024.Zehrah Hasan, advocacy director at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: “Instead of learning lessons from Windrush, this government has decided to entrench and expand the hostile environment which was at the root of the scandal. “We warned them that keeping this dangerous set of policies would push thousands more people into destitution and risk of deportation, including many EU nationals post-Brexit. Sadly for many, those fears are now becoming a reality.”A Home Office spokesperson said: “There have already been more than 5.8 million grants of status under the hugely successful EU settlement scheme, which we developed to ensure our EU citizen friends and neighbours could secure the status they need to stay here, rent and work.“Extensive information has been published to advise non-EU citizen family members of the need to apply to the scheme and we have put support in place for those who need help applying.” More

A senior U.N. official for Libya on Saturday condemned the storming of the parliament’s headquarters by angry demonstrators as part of protests in several cities against the political class and deteriorating economic conditions.Hundreds of protesters marched in the streets of the capital Tripoli and other Libyan cities on Friday, with many attacking and setting fire to government buildings, including the House of Representatives in the eastern city of Tobruk.“The people’s right to peacefully protest should be respected and protected but riots and acts of vandalism such as the storming of the House of Representatives headquarters late yesterday in Tobruk are totally unacceptable,” said Stephanie Williams, the U.N. special adviser on Libya, on Twitter. Friday’s protests came a day after the leaders of the parliament and another legislative chamber based in Tripoli failed to reach an agreement on elections during U.N.-mediated talks in Geneva. The dispute now centers on the eligibility requirements for candidates, according to the U.N.Libya failed to hold elections in December following challenges including legal disputes, controversial presidential hopefuls and the presence of rogue militias and foreign fighters in the country.The failure to hold the vote was a major below to international efforts to bring peace to the Mediterranean nation. It has opened a new chapter in its long-running political impasse, with two rival governments now claiming power after tentative steps toward unity in the past year.The protesters, frustrated from years of chaos and division, have called for the removal of the current political class and elections to be held. They also rallied against dire economic conditions in the oil-rich nation, where prices have risen for fuel and bread and power outages are a regular occurrence.There were fears that militias across the country could quash the protests as they did in 2020 demonstrations when they opened fire on people protesting dire economic conditions.Sabadell Jose, the European Union envoy in Libya, called on protesters to “avoid any type of violence.” He said Friday’s demonstrations demonstrated that people want “change through elections and their voices should be heard.”Libya has been wrecked by conflict since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The country was then for years split between rival administrations in the east and west, each supported by different militias and foreign governments. More

Boris Johnson suspended Chris Pincher after he heard a “disturbing” account of the allegations against him from a Tory MP who witnessed the incident, it has been reported. The prime minister initially resisted the call to suspend Mr Pincher but bowed to pressureafter a complaint about the MP was made to a parliamentary watchdog for sexual misconduct.A Downing Street source said Mr Johnson changed his mind after speaking to a Tory MP who witnessed the incident and was in contact with the alleged victim.“The account given was sufficiently disturbing to make the PM feel more troubled by all this,” the source told the PA news agency.Mr Pincher resigned on Thursday night after the groping claims came to light. He said he had drunk too much and “embarrassed himself” at the Conservative Party’s private members’ club the night before.A separate claim surfaced on Friday from a young Conservative activist who claimed to have been subjected to an unwanted sexual advance from Mr Pincher last year.The activist told The Times the MP put his hand on his knee and told him he would “go far in the party” at an event during the Conservative Party conference in Manchester. More

The mystery MP who walked in on Boris Johnson and then-girlfriend Carrie Symonds in an allegedly ‘compromising situation’ when he was foreign secretary is Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns, The Independent can reveal.Downing Street said that Burns “flagged up” the couple’s relationship to Foreign Office officials after finding them “having a glass of wine together” alone in Mr Johnson’s Commons office as foreign secretary in 2018.Mr Burns, one of Mr Johnson’s most loyal supporters, had a “sixth sense” that their relationship was “one to watch”, said a senior No 10 source.Mr Burns raised the matter with Mr Johnson’s close aide Ben Gascoigne, who worked for him at the Foreign Office and is now No 10 deputy chief of staff.It has previously been reported that in turn, Mr Gascoigne alerted Mr Johnson’s Foreign Office private office.On discovering Mr Johnson’s relationship with Carrie (then Carrie Symonds) as a result of Mr Burns walking in on them, Mr Gascoigne and other members of Mr Johnson’s Foreign Office team threatened to resign if Mr Johnson went ahead with a plan to appoint her as his £100,000-a-year Foreign Office chief of staff.The Independent has also been told by other sources that Mr Johnson’s team discussed the possible risk to him of blackmail – or kompromat – as foreign secretary if any of Britain’s enemies learned he was having an affair.In the event, they decided not to confront him over his relationship with Ms Symonds but successfully blocked his attempt to make her his chief of staff without informing him that it was linked to their belief, based on what Mr Burns had seen, that they were in a relationship.The claim that Mr Johnson and Ms Symonds were found in a ‘compromising situation’ was first made in a little-noticed section of a biography of Carrie Johnson by Tory Lord Ashcroft earlier this year.When the story resurfaced in The Times earlier this month it led to a political row when the paper dropped the story from later editions after No 10 intervened.Amid wild speculation in the last few days over the nature of the alleged “compromising situation” and the identity of those said to have known about it, Downing Street has given its own version of events for the first time in a bid to close down the controversy. More

Tory whip suspended from Chris Pincher after formal investigation launchedConservative MP Chris Pincher has been suspended from the parliamentary party and will be subject to a sexual misconduct investigation over allegations he drunkenly groped two men, it has been announced.Boris Johnson has agreed that the whip should be suspended from Mr Pincher while he is investigated by the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, a Tory spokeswoman said. A Downing Street source suggested the prime minister agreed after speaking to a Tory MP who was with one of the men allegedly groped by Mr Pincher.Earlier, No 10 admitted it knew of “unsubstantiated” claims against the MP when Mr Johnson promoted him – but said it had no reason to block the appointment.Mr Pincher resigned yesterday, saying he “drank far too much” at a private members’ club and “embarrassed himself”. Labour, as well as other Tory MPs, had demanded he be suspended. The only two women Tory MPs to chair Commons select committees, Caroline Nokes and Karen Bradley, called for a policy of “zero tolerance” for any such alleged conduct.Show latest update

1656713412That’s all for The Independent’s live coverage of politics for today. Our politics desk will be bringing you more over the weekend but for now you can catch up with the latest here.Liam James1 July 2022 23:101656711656Mystery MP who walked in on Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds in ‘compromising situation’ revealedThe mystery MP who walked in on Boris Johnson and then-girlfriend Carrie Symonds in an allegedly ‘compromising situation’ when he was foreign secretary is Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns, The Independent can reveal (Simon Walters reports).Downing Street said that Burns “flagged up” the couple’s relationship to Foreign Office officials after finding them “having a glass of wine together” alone in Mr Johnson’s Commons office as foreign secretary in 2018.Mr Burns, one of Mr Johnson’s most loyal supporters, had a “sixth sense” that their relationship was “one to watch”, said a senior No 10 source.Mr Burns raised the matter with Mr Johnson’s close aide Ben Gascoigne, who worked for him at the Foreign Office and is now No 10 deputy chief of staff.Liam James1 July 2022 22:401656709856The Conservative MPs forced to quit, lose the whip or jailedA string of scandals has engulfed the Tory party under Boris Johnson’s leadership. Round-up from PA News:Liam James1 July 2022 22:101656707443Chris Pincher: PM ally who campaigned to ‘save Boris’“Pincher by name, pincher by nature,” one Tory MP said of the former deputy chief whip forced to resign amid allegations he groped two men at a private members’ club.The prime minister is now facing claims that Downing Street was warned about Chris Pincher even before he was given his latest government job in February’s reshuffle.Especially as last night was not the first time the MP has been forced to resign from the whips’ office.That was in 2017, when he faced accusations, which he denied, from a former Olympic swimmer and Conservative candidate.But in times of crisis all prime ministers need allies.Kate Devlin profiles the twice resigned whip who is being investigated for sexual misconduct:Liam James1 July 2022 21:301656704443Watch: Tory whip suspended from Chris Pincher after formal investigation launchedThe team at Independent TV have composed a disgestible version of the developments in the Chris Pincher scandal. Get up to speed if you missed the past few hours: Tory whip suspended from Chris Pincher after formal investigation launchedLiam James1 July 2022 20:401656702643Comment: After hearing news of ‘groping’ Tory MP Chris Pincher, I have only two words“Not again,” said Tom Peck when he heard the allegations against Chris Pincher.The Independent’s political sketch writer remembers the last time the (now twice) former deputy chief whip resigned his post over sexual misconduct allegations:Liam James1 July 2022 20:101656700247Tories suffer three council by-election defeatsThe Conservatives have suffered a hat-trick of council by-election defeats, continuing a recent run of poor results that has led them to shed seats to various opponents.The party lost two contests on Thursday to the Liberal Democrats and a third to Labour.The Tories have now made a net loss of 11 council seats since the local elections at the start of May.With the latest defeats, the Lib Dems won a seat in the Bridlington North ward of East Riding council, which had become vacant following the death of the previous Tory councillor.The second Lib Dem gain came in the Bernwood ward of Buckinghamshire council, where they took a seat in a by-election triggered by the resignation of its Conservative incumbent.The Tories dropped to third place, behind the Lib Dems and the Greens.Labour gained a seat from the Conservatives in the Midway ward of South Derbyshire council, following the resignation of a former Tory councillor.In a bumper set of council by-elections on Thursday, the Conservatives also held seats in Croydon and Wyre, while Labour gained a seat from an independent in Middlesbrough and held seats in Liverpool and Newark & Sherwood.The Conservatives have clocked up 12 losses and one gain since the start of May, giving them a net loss of 11 council seats overall, according to analysis by the PA news agency.Of the 12 losses, five have been to the Lib Dems, three to Labour, two to the Greens and two to independents.The one Conservative gain was a seat on Wyre Forest council that was previously held by the Health Concern party, who did not stand in the by-election.Jane Dalton1 July 2022 19:301656699043Putin jokes and defence spending rows: Inside Boris Johnson’s turbulent trip overseasBoris Johnson looked and sounded exhausted at the end of his nine-day trip overseas. Nine days of strange, somewhat stilted conversations with world leaders. Nine days of rows about biofuels and military budgets. Nine days of questions about Tory MPs trying to oust him.Asked if he was looking forward to getting home, the prime minister allowed himself a sigh and a smile. “I can’t tell you how much … there’s no place like home.”But unlike Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, there is no respite for the PM back at the farm. As he kicks off his ruby slippers at Downing Street, he knows his troubles have not magically disappeared.Adam Forrest followed the prime minister on his lengthy foreign trip. He reports here:Liam James1 July 2022 19:101656697847Migrant Channel crossings reached high last monthMore than 3,000 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in June – the highest monthly total this year.Some 3,136 made the crossing on 76 boats in the 30-day period, with journeys taking place on 19 of those days, according to PA analysis of government figures.Of the 12,690 people who made the journey in the first half of this year, the second-highest month for crossings was 3,074 in March.After navigating busy shipping lanes from France in small boats such as dinghies, 2,871 made the crossing in May; 2, 143 in April; 1,322 in January and 144 in February, according to Home Office figures for the first quarter of the year and data from the Ministry of Defence.The highest month on record since 2018 was for 6,971 crossings in November 2021.The total for 2022 so far is more than five times the number recorded between January and June 2020 (2,493) and more than double the six-month tally for the first half of last year (5,917).The figures indicate 51,824 people have made the crossing since 2018.Home Office figures show 28,526 crossed in 2021, compared with 8,466 in 2020, 1,843 in 2019 and 299 in 2018.Jane Dalton1 July 2022 18:501656696643Angela Rayner says Boris Johnson ‘dragged kicking and screaming’ into action against Chris PincherLabour deputy leader Angela Rayner said the prime minister was forced into suspending Chris Pincher as a Conservative MP over groping allegations.She said: “Boris Johnson has been dragged kicking and screaming into taking any action at all. He just can’t be trusted to do the right thing. This whole scandal is yet more evidence of his appalling judgement.“It’s time for Conservative MPs to show this chaotic prime minister the door before he can do any more damage.”Mr Johnson was said to have been waiting for a formal investigation to begin before suspending Mr Pincher but later relented. A Downing Street source suggested the prime minister changed his mind after speaking to a Tory MP who was with one of two men allegedly groped by Mr Pincher.Mr Johnson was speculated to have been reluctant to take action against Mr Pincher inpart due to the ex-deputy chief whip’s part in efforts to save the prime minister at the height of the Partygate scandal.Liam James1 July 2022 18:30 More