UK Politics

Conservative MP David Warburton has revealed that an investigation has now begun into complaints which resulted in the Tory whip being withdrawn from him three months ago.The Somerton and Frome MP said he was “delighted” that the inquiry by Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme had finally got under way.He said that he did not receive official confirmation of the details of the allegations against him until two weeks ago – 10 weeks after the complaints first surfaced in the press.The Sunday Times reported on 3 April that two female former parliamentary assistants had made formal complaints to the ICGS about Mr Warburton’s behaviour, alleging unwanted sexual comments and sexual touching. There were also allegations of cocaine use.The MP, who denies any wrongdoing, was stripped of the Tory whip pending investigation and has since sat as an Independent in the Commons.In a post on his website, he said: “For the past 12 weeks I have faced accusations which I have – as yet – been unable to address due to the strict confidentiality terms which are explicitly required during any such investigation process.“Until two weeks ago, I had not even been officially informed what the accusations were or who had made them.“It has been immensely difficult not to speak out, but I have steadfastly adhered to the very strict rules of confidentiality and will continue to do so until the investigation concludes. Then, I will have much to say.  I must say that I’m delighted that – finally – the investigation is underway.”Mr Warburton is separately under investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner over allegations of paid advocacy and failure to declare a gift or other benefit. More

A cabinet minister has suggested the Conservative Party deputy chief whip who resigned after he was said to have groped two men while drunk will lose the party whip later today.Chris Pincher dramatically quit his government job late last night following the alleged assault at a Conservative Party private members’ club, but remains a Tory MP .Labour, as well as other Conservative MPs, have demanded that he lose his party’s whip. Welsh secretary Simon Hart hinted that he agreed and suggested such a move could happen later today.“Let’s let today play out, let the chief whip do his duty today, and then I think we might be having a very different conversation as the day goes on,” he told Sky News. He said the sexual misconduct allegations made him “very sad” but it was important that due process was followed. But he also warned the resignation likely “won’t be the last” Westminster scandal, as he said the allegations against Mr Pincher must “absolutely not” be swept under the carpet.It is not the first time Mr Pincher has resigned as a whip.In 2017, he stood down after he was accused of making unwanted advances toward former Olympic rower and Tory activist Alex Story, nine years before becoming an MP.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.Politico today reported that allegations about Mr Pincher were raised with Downing Street before Mr Pincher was appointed in the February reshuffle and that he had a “minder” to ensure he left events without becoming too drunk and getting into trouble.Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Boris Johnson has serious questions to answer about why Chris Pincher was given this role in the first place and how he can remain a Conservative MP.” One Tory MP told the Telegraph: “Pincher must lose the whip.” In his resignation letter to Boris Johnson, Mr Pincher said he had “embarrassed himself and other people” by drinking too much at the club, understood to be the Carlton Club, in London’s Piccadilly.The Tamworth MP wrote: “Last night I drank far too much.“I’ve embarrassed myself and other people which is the last thing I want to do and for that I apologise to you and to those concerned.“I think the right thing to do in the circumstances is for me to resign as Deputy Chief Whip. I owe it to you and the people I’ve caused upset to, to do this.“I want to assure you that you will continue to have my full support from the back benches, and I wish you all the best as you deal with aftershocks of Covid and the challenges of international inflation.“It has been the honour of my life to have served in Her Majesty’s Government.”A number of MPs, from various parties, have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent years, leading Westminster to become nicknamed ‘Pestminster’. More

The Tory party has been hit by a fresh scandal after its deputy chief whip resigned over an alleged groping incident. Chris Pincher quit his post on Thursday over a drunken incident the night before. Mr Pincher, who was responsible for maintaining discipline among Conservative MPs, said he had “embarrassed myself and other people” after having had “far too much” to drink.It is alleged he groped two fellow guests at the Carlton Club – a Tory Party private members’ club in London’s Piccadilly – on Wednesday evening.While he has stood down from his position as deputy chief whip, it is yet unclear whether he will remain in his position as MP for Tamworth. Mr Pincher said in his resignation letter to the prime minister he had “embarrassed” himself and leaving his government post was the “right thing to do in the circumstances”. More

Teachers’ leaders have immediately rejected a reported 9 per cent pay rise proposed for new starters as ministers try to head off a series of strikes across the UK.The increase, alongside a 5 per cent raise for more experienced staff, has reportedly been proposed by the education secretary Nadhim Zahawi in a letter to the chancellor Rishi Sunak.But Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the National Education Union, said it was “not enough, it is still a pay cut”, although she added that it would be “a start.”“If we don’t receive a very much better offer we will be looking to ballot our members in October,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. She warned that even under a ‘best case scenario’ that less than half of the new teachers the UK needs would start training this September.One in four new starts leaves the profession within two years, she added. Mr Zahawi has asked the chancellor to give teachers the pay rises in an attempt to head off off strike action later this year, The Daily Telegraph reports.There are 130,000 teachers in England in the first five years of their careers, who would be affected by the proposed 9 per cent rise.A raise of 5 per cent would be put forward for the remaining 380,000 teachers in England, instead of the government’s planned initial figure of 3 per cent figure.Ministers have confirmed that pensioners and welfare claimants are due to get raises of up to 10 per cent to keep pace with soaring inflation. More

Downing Street is working on plans to cut VAT in a bid to ease the cost of living burden on struggling British households, reports suggest.The Times reported on Thursday that No 10’s chief of staff Steve Barclay had suggested the temporary reduction in the 20 per cent rate of tax in the hope of easing tax bills for millions and blunting the spiralling rate of inflation.It comes after modelling from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the rate of inflation in the UK, at 9.1 per cent, had reached its highest point since at least February 1982.But the plans – which would see VAT cut to 17.5 per cent – have reportedly stirred up controversy within the Treasury, due to fears it could overstimulate the economy and stoke the already raging rate of inflation.The newspaper claims that Mr Barclay, the MP for North East Cambridgeshire, first raised the idea of VAT cuts in talks with the Treasury in the past two weeks, during which he referred to the move as “de-inflationary”.A source familiar with the plans told The Times: “Steve’s been pushing it quite strongly but the Treasury is not buying it.”A second source also claimed that Treasury officials had mooted the idea of potential VAT cuts last month. But, ultimately, the ideas were scrapped over worries it could lead to a short-lived fall in inflation followed by a more severe recession.Paul Johnson, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told The Times that cuts to VAT would be “economically inappropriate”.He added: “It would reduce inflation in the short run because it would reduce prices relative to what they would have been. But it would increase inflation next year. It can’t help in the long run.“And it could actually lead to higher inflation overall because you would be pumping extra money into an economy where demand is already outstripping supply. Stimulating demand at the moment would be economically inappropriate. On this one the Treasury is right.”A source close to Mr Barclay said: “Steve has reinforced to ministerial colleagues that decisions on tax need to be taken by the prime minister and chancellor and that in exploring options, colleagues need to follow up on the commitments the prime minister made in his letter to MPs at the time of the leadership vote.” More

The Conservative Party deputy chief whip Chris Pincher has resigned after he is said to have groped two men while he was drunk.In a resignation letter sent to Boris Johnson, he said he had “embarrassed himself and other people” by drinking too much at the Conservative Party’s private members’ club.The alleged incident happened at the Carlton Club, in London’s Piccadilly, on Wednesday night, according to The Sun.The Tamworth MP said in his resignation letter: “Last night I drank far too much.“I’ve embarrassed myself and other people which is the last thing I want to do and for that I apologise to you and to those concerned. “I think the right thing to do in the circumstances is for me to resign as Deputy Chief Whip. I owe it to you and the people I’ve caused upset to, to do this.“I want to assure you that you will continue to have my full support from the back benches, and I wish you all the best as you deal with aftershocks of Covid and the challenges of international inflation.“It has been the honour of my life to have served in Her Majesty’s Government.”The Metropolitan Police said it was not aware of any calls to the location where the alleged incident took place and there was no record on its systems of any related reports submitted on Thursday.A Tory source reportedly said Mr Pincher would not face any inquiry or disciplinary actions. “The PM thinks he’s done the decent thing by resigning. There is no need for an investigation and no need to suspend the whip,” The Telegraph reported.Mr Pincher was first elected as MP for Tamworth – in Staffordshire – in May 2010, and was re-elected in December 2019.His resignation means the Conservative Party is now without a deputy chief whip and a party chairman.Last week, Oliver Dowden resigned as the Tories’ chairman after the party’s double by-election defeat in Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield.In 2017, Mr Pincher was cleared of breaching the party’s code of conduct after he referred himself to the Conservatives’ complaint procedure. He resigned as the assistant whip after he was accused of making unwanted advances toward former Olympic rower and Tory activist Alex Story, nine years before Mr Pincher became an MP.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 the Conservatve Party code of conduct over the allegations. Scores of MPs, from a number of parties, have been accused of sexual harassment in recent years.In 2018, the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) was set up as an independent process with cross-party backing amid the so-called Pestminster scandal.Last month, parliament’s independent watchdog said around 15 MPs were being investigated for alleged bullying or sexual misconduct. More

Downing Street has warned Tory MPs that they will be “putting a gun to the head” of every future Conservative prime minister if they change leadership rules in a bid to remove Boris Johnson.The warning came as the prime minister’s supporters attempted to see off efforts by rebel MPs to bring forward the date of a possible second vote of no confidence in Mr Johnson.One cabinet minister told The Independent that the PM’s critics should bear in mind that the electoral landscape would be very different by the likely date of the next general election in 2024, with economic issues rather than Partygate at the forefront of voters’ minds.In the wake of humiliating results in last week’s by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton, Mr Johnson’s backbench critics are actively seeking new methods to topple him after he narrowly survived a confidence vote by a margin of 211-148.While some are lobbying ministers and party grandees to take a message to the prime minister that he must go or face high-level resignations, others are understood to be preparing an anti-Johnson slate to stand in elections next month to the executive of the backbench 1922 Committee.The executive has the power to scrap a rule that gives the prime minister 12 months’ grace after a confidence vote before MPs can again vote on his future.But a source close to the prime minister today warned that they should think twice before taking that step because of the danger it would inhibit future leaders of the party from taking difficult but necessary decisions.“If the rules were changed, every leader forever more would have a gun to their head,” the source said.“They would never be able to get on with anything because they would be constantly beholden to the whims of MPs.”As the operation to counter rebel plotting picked up pace, a cabinet minister said MPs should not make the mistake of believing that Mr Johnson’s current unpopularity would condemn them to defeat when Britain goes to the polls in two years’ time.Voters’ decisions were more likely to be driven by whether they thought the government had helped them through the cost of living crisis and made meaningful progress on its pledge to level up the country than on the events of the Covid pandemic, he said.Asked whether Tories had time to “detoxify” Mr Johnson’s brand in time for the general election, the minister said: “Politics is very fast-moving nowadays. The result in 2024 won’t be determined by what happened in 2021.“I’m not saying that voters will have forgotten about Partygate, but the questions they will be asking in 2024 will be about how the economy is doing, how their own prospects look, whether the place where they live is improving, not about what happened a few years before.“That is where our focus has to be, rather than on trying to change the way they think about the PM.”The minister conceded that “levelling up” disadvantaged areas of the UK was a long-term project that could not be completed within the timescale of a single election.But he insisted that it would be possible for the government to make significant enough progress by 2024 to convince voters that Mr Johnson was leading the country towards that goal.“Levelling up is a long-term process and we won’t have turned around every part of the country by the time of the election, but it is a matter of ensuring that voters can see evidence of a direction of travel,” he said.Mr Johnson said he was “keen to get back” to the UK after a nine-day trip that has taken in summits of the Commonwealth, G7 and Nato in Rwanda, Germany and Spain – and seen him battered by by-election voters in the UK.“There’s no place like home,” he told reporters.He three times refused to discuss the possibility of an early election, following reports that Downing Street had wargamed the idea of declaring a snap poll if Sir Keir Starmer was forced to give up the Labour leadership by a fine from Durham police for breaching Covid restrictions.“The idea hadn’t occurred to me,” he insisted.But sources close to the PM later poured cold water on the idea, telling reporters: “The PM won an 80-seat majority. People want us to use it to get s*** done, rather than hold another vote.” More

Up to 3,000 primary schools across rural England are to gain access to gigabit-speed broadband as part of a new multimillion-pound investment, the Government has said.A joint £82 million investment from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Education (DfE) will see rural schools have the cost of connecting them to the faster broadband covered by the new programme.The Government estimates the scheme could benefit as many as half a million primary school pupils over the next three years.

Children’s opportunities in school should not be pre-determined by where they grow upNadine DorriesIt is the latest aspect of the Government’s Project Gigabit, the £5 billion programme to roll out more reliable broadband to more of the UK, including hard-to-reach areas.Gigabit broadband means speeds of around 1,000 megabits per second (Mbps) which is significantly faster than the current national average broadband speed of just over 50Mbps.“Children’s opportunities in school should not be pre-determined by where they grow up,” Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said.“Today we’re announcing millions of pounds to get lightning-fast broadband connections to rural schools and level up children’s access to the best possible teaching.“Teaching has been revolutionised by digital technology and we need to make sure all pupils can benefit from the opportunity it brings.”Schools minister Robin Walker said “high speed, reliable internet” was “crucial to helping schools provide the best possible experience for pupils”.“This investment will open a whole world of possibilities for schools and teachers in hard-to-reach areas, whether that is through more access to online resources for children, or fast, top quality video streaming,” he said.“It is more important now than ever for schools to be connected and this welcome investment comes on top of the programme of upgrades to connectivity and wi-fi that we are delivering through our Priority Education Investment Areas.” More