Tory MP Chris Pincher has ‘made arrangements’ to resign from the House of Commons today. The announcement comes after he lost his appeal against a proposed eight-week suspension for drunkenly groping two men.
In a statement, the conservative MP for Tamworth said ‘I have said already that I will not stand at the next general election. However, following the Independent Expert Panel’s decision I wanted to talk to my office team and family’ continuing ‘I do not want my constituents to be put to further uncertainty, and so in consequence I have made arrangements to resign and leave the Commons.’ He added ‘Tamworth is a wonderful place and it has been an honour to represent its people. I shall make no further comment at this time.’
Pincher, 53, faced multiple claims of sexual misconduct in the wake of the government’s ‘Pestminster’ scandal, when it was claimed he groped two men at the Carlton Club, a private members club, back in June 2022. He resigned from his position as Tory Deputy Chief Whip on 30 June 2022 after the allegations of misconduct surfaced. At the time, he denied any allegations of misconduct, but admitted that he had ‘embarrassed myself and other people’ while being drunk.
However, a report released by the standards committee in July this year found that Pincher did grope two people ‘as a matter of fact’ and said his conduct was ‘profoundly damaging’ and amounted to an ‘abuse of power’. The report recommended he should be suspended from the Commons for eight weeks. Pincher appealed against the suspension but not the findings, and on Monday it emerged that he had been unsuccessful. An Independent Expert Panel (IEP) found that the original committee that investigated him 'approached this task properly, with the correct considerations in mind.'
Boris Johnson had been fighting for political survival when the allegations around Pincher surfaced last year, and the scandal hastened his downfall. After Pincher resigned as Tory Deputy Chief Whip, No 10 initially maintained that Johnson was not aware of any specific allegations against Pincher before appointing him to the top government position. But Lord McDonald - a former top civil servant in the Foreign Office – confirmed that Johnson was briefed ‘in person’ about a ‘formal complaint’ into Pincher’s conduct back in 2019.
Sharing the letter on Twitter, Lord McDonald of Salford wrote ‘This morning I have written to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards – because No 10 keep changing their story and are still not telling the truth.’ In the letter, Lord McDonald stated ‘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 characterise the allegations as ‘unsubstantiated’ is therefore wrong.’
After McDonald’s statement, the government changed their position, stating that the Prime Minister was briefed but could not ‘recall this’ when allegations first emerged. Johnson has since admitted that he ‘bitterly regrets’ not acting on the information. He has also denied lying to his team about his awareness of the briefing.
Pincher’s resignation means that Rishi Sunak's government will face another by-election in Tamworth, which holds a Tory majority of 19,634.