UK PM under fire amid claims he knew about ‘sex pest’ lawmaker’s behaviour

Conservative MP Chris Pincher quit his post last week following reports he groped two men. He had been accused of making unwanted sexual advances in the past

Even normally friendly UK media outlets turned on Johnson over the weekend, claiming the PM ‘knew all about’ Pincher and ‘turned a blind eye’ to his behaviour

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The Pincher scandal adds to a string of headaches for a weakened Johnson, who narrowly survived a confidence vote of Conservative MPs last month. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 10:37am, 4 Jul 2022Updated: 10:50am, 4 Jul 2022

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under pressure to explain what he knew and when after a string of allegations surfaced over the weekend about the past sexual behaviour of an MP from his own ruling party.

Johnson late on Friday suspended Chris Pincher from the Conservative Party, almost a day after The Sun reported allegations that the MP had groped two fellow guests at a private club. Pincher quit as the party’s deputy chief whip on Thursday.

The UK parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme is now investigating the matter, and there are growing calls for Johnson to spell out why he named Pincher as deputy chief whip in February, despite the MP quitting a similar role in 2017 amid allegations he had made unwanted sexual advances on a former Olympic rower.

The opposition Labour Party late on Sunday ratcheted up the pressure with a letter to the prime minister demanding to know if he was aware of complaints about Pincher before promoting him.

“Only Boris Johnson could have looked at this guy’s record and thought ‘he deserves a promotion,’” Labour Chair Anneliese Dodds, the author of the letter, said in a statement.

Johnson returned to Britain on Thursday evening, shortly before the Pincher story was broken by The Sun newspaper. He had spent eight days travelling between three summits on two continents, and may face the House of Commons as early as Monday to make a statement on the visits.