Boris Johnson has apologised for appointing Chris Pincher deputy chief whip, saying it “was a mistake” and “in hindsight the wrong thing to do”.
The prime minister said sorry to “everybody who has been badly affected” adding, “I just want to make absolutely clear that there is no place in this government for anybody who is a predator or who abuses their position of power”.
He also said: “If I had my time again, I would think back on it and recognise that he wasn’t going to learn any lessons and he wasn’t going to change and I regret that.
Earlier on Tuesday, it was confirmed that the prime minister was previously told about an investigation into the disgraced MP’s inappropriate behaviour in 2019, despite days of Number 10 saying Mr Johnson was unaware of specific allegations against his former deputy chief whip.
Mr Pincher resigned his post last week after he was accused of groping two men in a private members club, but it emerged on Monday he had already been investigated for his conduct three years ago.
In an explosive letter to parliament’s standard’s commissioner published on Tuesday, former Foreign Office permanent secretary Lord McDonald accused Downing Street of making “inaccurate claims”, saying they “keep changing their story and are still not telling the truth”.
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What did Boris Johnson know about Chris Pincher groping claims and when? Here’s what Downing Street has said
Former civil servant bulldozes through No 10’s defence of disgraced MP Chris Pincher
Speaking to reporters today, a No 10 spokesman confirmed Mr Johnson was briefed on the complaint in late 2019, but said the PM stood by appointing Mr Pincher again in February 2022.
The spokesman also suggested the PM had forgotten he was briefed about the incident, saying: “I would add a caveat at least that this was related to a conversation, and what I believe to have been a brief conversation, that took place around three years ago.”
Earlier today, asking an urgent question in the Commons on the matter, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “What message does this send about the standards of this government and what they set?”
But, responding for the government, Paymaster General Michael Ellis insisted the PM had “acted with probity at all times”.
He added: “As soon as he was reminded [of the briefing], the Number 10 press office corrected their public lines.”
