The deputy in charge of party discipline at the Conservatives has been suspended after allegations he drunkenly harassed two men in a party club bar.
London, Thanasis Gavos
He is under pressure once again Boris Johnsonthis time on the occasion of the inappropriate behavior of the deputy responsible for maintaining party discipline in the Conservatives Chris Pincher.
Mr. Pincher resigned from that government post on Thursday, admitting that the previous night he was drunkas a result to tame two men at the party club bar, as reported.
The British Prime Minister and Conservative leader did not, however, decide to remove Mr Pincher from the caucus until Friday, despite the seriousness of the allegations and internal party criticism.
The pressure on Mr Johnson, however, also concerns the question of whether he was aware of previous similar allegations against Mr Pincher and why he ignored warnings from the party not to place the 52-year-old MP in the cabinet last February.
Since the revelation of the latest incident with the negative protagonist Chris Pincher, 13 complaints from men have emerged of sexual harassment against them by the MP, in the period from 2012 onwards.
British press reports claim that Downing Street had received a specific complaint against Mr Pincher before the February reshuffle.
The line from the Prime Minister’s Office is, however, that the Prime Minister was not aware of any “specific” complaint against Mr Pincher.
However, according to the Mail on Sunday, Boris Johnson was aware of the allegations against Mr Pincher from earlier. He is even alleged to have commented to colleagues in 2020 referring to the Tamworth constituency MP as “reaching out – both a Pincher by name and a pinch by nature”.
The leader of the main opposition Labor Party, Anneliese Dodds, has written to Prime Minister Johnson asking him to clarify what he knew about the allegations against Chris Pincher.
Opposition figures have argued that Mr Pincher took the post in return for the leading role he played in rallying the Prime Minister’s supporters against an internal party “mutiny” over partygate.
Rebel Tory MPs, however, are said to have been re-energized following the new scandal. Media reports say they want to elect opponents of Mr Johnson to the board of the 1922 Commission, the party body responsible for the confidence vote in the Prime Minister.
In early June, Mr. Johnson won that vote and by statute cannot undergo the same challenge process for 12 months. His party critics, however, are said to want to change the rules if they win a majority in next week’s election of a new 1922 Commission. In such a case Mr Johnson could be faced again with an intra-party motion of no confidence before 12 months have passed.
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