Ex-Tory MP Chris Pincher facing Commons suspension for eight weeks over groping claims – opening prospect of another by-election
Chris Pincher MP is facing a suspension from the House of Commons for eight weeks after a report into groping claims against him.
Mr Pincher, who no longer sits as a Conservative, quit as deputy chief whip last summer after being accused of assaulting two guests at the exclusive Carlton Club in London.
The 53-year-old’s actions eventually led to the downfall of Boris Johnson, after it emerged the then prime minister was aware of an investigation into Mr Pincher’s conduct three years before, yet still appointed him to a role involving MPs’ welfare.
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The parliamentary watchdog launched its investigation in October, looking at whether Mr Pincher’s actions caused “significant damage to the reputation of the House” – a breach of the members’ code.
In its conclusions, released this morning, it said his conduct had been “completely inappropriate, profoundly damaging to the individuals concerned, and represented an abuse of power”.
And it said his actions would “significantly impact public perception of the House and its members”.
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Chris Pincher was quizzed by Sky News after Boris Johnson left Downing Street
As a result, it recommended an eight week suspension, triggering a recall petition in Mr Pincher’s Tamworth constituency – if 10% of voters sign it, a by-election is called.
He would still be allowed to stand, but having announced he plans to step down at the next election anyway, it seems unlikely.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is already facing three by-elections on 20 July after Mr Johnson, Nigel Adams and David Warburton announced their resignations from parliament last month.
A fourth is also expected for former culture secretary Nadine Dorries’ seat, as she has promised to resign over the treatment of Mr Johnson by the Privileges Committee – which found the ex-PM had lied to parliament over partygate.
However, she hasn’t officially stepped down yet.
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said Mr Pincher should “do the decent thing” and resign as an MP immediately, adding: “The people of Tamworth and the surrounding villages deserve more from their Parliamentary representative.”
It emerged after the incidents that Boris Johnson had been told about Chris Pincher’s behaviour three years before, but still hired him as deputy chief whip.
The report from the Committee on Standards, following an investigation by parliament’s Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg, detailed the accusations levelled at Mr Pincher on the night of 29 June, when he was invited to speak at the Carlton Club for an event hosted by the Conservative Friends of Cyprus.
The first complainant said he had never met the MP before, but recognised him, as well as knowing some of his staff members.
At around midnight, Mr Pincher approached the House of Lords employee in the bar and grabbed his forearm, “holding it for longer than necessary, which made him feel uncomfortable, leading him to remove Mr Pincher’s arm”.
The report said the MP “went on to stroke his neck” and the complainant again removed his hand, but after a short interval, Mr Pincher returned and “squeezed the complainant’s bottom”.
It added: “The complainant describes the incident as having been traumatic and having impacted his wellbeing.”
A second complainant – a civil servant – said he was introduced to Mr Pincher, who then bought the group a round of drinks.
“Following a break in the conversation, Mr Pincher moved away from the group, then returned and touched the witness’s bottom before moving his hand to touch and squeeze the witness’s testicles, which lasted for a few seconds,” the report added.
“The witness told the Commissioner that this incident affected his health and wellbeing and caused him concern for his future work prospects.”
Two witnesses – both serving MPs – also spoke to the investigation, describing Mr Pincher as “smashed”, and said they had reported the incidents to the chief whip.
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Sky News’ political correspondent explains what the report into Chris Pincher has found.
Mr Pincher told the investigation that he did not remember the events that took place that evening, but apologised to all parties involved.
He said: “I’m conscious of the effect the evening and the coverage must have had on all the parties involved, as well as on my own family. I’m very sorry and apologise to them all, as I did the day I resigned from the government.”
However, he claimed he had returned to the club after the event in a personal capacity and denied his behaviour had caused significant damage to the reputation of the House and its members.
And he also claimed there were “inconsistencies, anomalies and gaps in the evidence” which he argued “don’t present a complete picture”.
But the commissioner, Mr Greenberg, concluded Mr Pincher had breached paragraph 17 of the 2019 Code of Conduct for Members, adding: “The damage that has been caused to the reputation and integrity of the House and its embers cannot be described as trivial, unnoteworthy, or not important to address. The damage is significant.
“It involves behaviour that by any standards was shocking, deeply inappropriate, and adversely impacted two unsuspecting individuals who had no expectation that they would be subjected to such behaviour.
“Further, it was conduct that risks advancing a misplaced public perception that members of parliament do not have to abide by normal standards of behaviour and can commit acts of misconduct with impunity.”
The committee accepted his findings and recommended the eight week suspension.
Johnson’s downfall sparked by Pincher scandal
The day after the incidents occurred, Mr Pincher resigned from his post as deputy chief whip, but Mr Johnson resisted pressure from his own MPs to suspend him from the party, leading to accusations he wasn’t taking the matter seriously enough.
He eventually did remove the whip and apologised for his part in the scandal, and for the fact he knew about previous allegations around the MP’s behaviour before appointing him.
But within minutes, both Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid quit the cabinet, and a wave of ministers followed, with the government collapsing in their wake.
And within days, Mr Johnson reluctantly resigned from office.
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Boris Johnson’s resignation speech
Labour’s Ms Rayner used today’s findings to launch a wider attack on the Conservatives, saying: “Chris Pincher’s actions are shocking. But what’s even worse, is the way the Conservative party protected him – even promoting him despite a previous investigation into his conduct.
“The British people deserve so much better than 13 years of Tory chaos and sleaze.
“Rishi Sunak has been too weak to act against Chris Pincher because he’s too weak to lead a Conservative Party which is too divided to govern the country. And it is working people who are paying the price with a cost of living crisis.”
The Liberal Democrats’ chief whip, Wendy Chamberlain, also attacked the ruling party, saying: “Chris Pincher adds his name to the long list of disgraced former Conservatives caught up in sleaze and scandal.
“After missing so many vital votes in parliament [specifically the Privileges Committee vote on Mr Johnson], Rishi Sunak must finally show some backbone and confirm he will vote to suspend Chris Pincher.
“Sunak promised to govern with integrity, he must vote with it.”
World
In the idyllic Cognac region of southern France, Trump’s tariffs threaten a centuries-old way of life
The impact of Trump’s tariffs is reaching deep into every economy.
We travelled into the French rural heartland, heading for Cognac – the home of French brandy.
It is only half the size of Surrey but its exports to America are worth €1bn a year and that trade is now severely threatened.
The first buds are out on the vines of Amy Pasquet’s vineyard.
An American, she has married into the industry and with her French husband owns JLP Cognac.
She knows more than most the bond brandy has formed between their two countries that goes back to the war.
Tariffs latest: Follow live updates
Ms Pasquet said: “A lot of the African-American soldiers had really loved their experience here and had brought back the cognac. And I think that stayed because this African-American community truly is a community and they want to drink like their grandfather did.”
The ties remain with rappers like Jay Z’s love for cognac.
However, Ms Pasquet adds: “There’s also this other community of people who have been drinking bourbon for a long time, love bourbon, but find the prices just outrageous today. So they want to try something different.”
Amy Pasquet owns JLP Cognac with her husband
JLP’s products were served at New York’s prestigious Met Gala.
They were preparing to launch new product lines in the US. But now that’s in doubt.
It is hard being an American in France now, Ms Pasquet says.
Her French neighbours are appalled by what US President Donald Trump is doing.
She continues: “They’re like, okay, America’s forgotten how close France and America are as far as (their) relationship is concerned. And I think that’s hurtful on both sides. I think it’s important to remember that the US is many things, and not just this one person, and there are millions of inhabitants that didn’t vote for him.”
A fresh challenge for a centuries-old tradition
Making cognac takes years, using techniques that go back centuries. In another vineyard we met Pierre Louis Giboin whose family have been doing it for more than 200 years.
In a cellar dating back to the French Revolution, barrels of oak sit under thick cobwebs, ageing the brandy.
The walls are lined with a unique black mould that thrives off the vapours of cognac.
They have seen threats come and go over those centuries, wars, weather, pestilence. But never from a country they regard as one of their oldest allies and best of customers.
Read more:
What China could do next as Trump’s tariff war
How tariffs will affect your money
Could Trump’s tariffs tip the world into recession?
Pierre Louis Giboin’s cellar dates back to the French revolution
Mr Trump’s tariffs, says Mr Giboin, now threaten a way of life.
“It’s at the end of like very good times in the Cognac region. It’s been like 10 years when everything’s been perfect, we have good harvest, we sell really easily all the stock, but now I mean it’s the end.”
Ms Pasquet and Mr Giboin are unusual.
Most cognac makers sell their produce through the drink’s four big houses, Hennessy, Remy Martin, Martell and Courvoisier.
Some have been told the amounts they can sell have been drastically reduced.
Independents though like them must find new markets if the tariff threat persists.
Confusion away from the chaos
Outside in the dappled light of a Cognac evening Mr Giboin and I toast glasses of pineau – the diluted form of cognac drunk as an aperitif.
In this idyllic corner of France, a world away from Washington, Mr Trump’s trade war on Europe simply makes no sense.
“He’s like angry against the whole world and the way he talks like that Europe the EU was made against the US to cheat on the US. It’s just crazy to think like this,” Mr Giboin says.
It’s not just what Mr Trump’s done. It’s how Europe now strikes back that concerns the French. And it’s not just in Cognac where they’re concerned
France exports more than €2bn worth of wine to America.
In the heart of the Bordeaux wine region, Sylvie Courselle’s family have been making wine since the 1940s at their Chateau Thieuley vineyard.
It’s bottling season but they can’t prepare the wine headed for America while everything is up in the air.
Showing me the unused reels of US labels for her wine she told me she was losing sleep over the uncertainty.
Later she was meeting with her American distributors.
Gerry Keogh sells Ms Courselle’s wine across the US.
He says the entire industry is reeling
Sylvie Courselle with distributers
The Chateau Thieuley vineyard in the Bordeaux wine region
“I think it’s like anything. You don’t really believe it’s happening. And even when you’re in the midst of it, it was kind of like 9/11.
“You’re like… This is actually happening. It’s unbelievable. And when you start seeing the repercussions from the stock market, et cetera, and how it’s impacting every level, it’s quite shocking.”
They know the crisis is far from over and could now escalate.
“We feel stuck in the middle of this commercial war and we don’t have the weapons to fight, I think,” Ms Courselle said.
It is, she says, very stressful.
Gerry Keogh
The histories of America and France have been intertwined for centuries through revolutions against tyranny and two wars fighting for liberty.
America used to call France its oldest ally, but under Donald Trump its now seen here as turning on France and the rest of Europe in a reckless and unjustified trade war.
It is all doing enormous harm to relations between the US and its European allies.
How Europe now decides to retaliate will help determine the extent of that damage.
World
In the idyllic Cognac region of southern France, Trump’s tariffs threaten a centuries-old way of life
The impact of Trump’s tariffs is reaching deep into every economy.
We travelled into the French rural heartland, heading for Cognac – the home of French brandy.
It is only half the size of Surrey but its exports to America are worth €1bn a year and that trade is now severely threatened.
The first buds are out on the vines of Amy Pasquet’s vineyard.
An American, she has married into the industry and with her French husband owns JLP Cognac.
She knows more than most the bond brandy has formed between their two countries that goes back to the war.
Tariffs latest: Follow live updates
Ms Pasquet said: “A lot of the African-American soldiers had really loved their experience here and had brought back the cognac. And I think that stayed because this African-American community truly is a community. and they want to drink like their grandfather did.”
The ties remain with rappers like Jay Z’s love for cognac.
However, Ms Pasquet adds: “There’s also this other community of people who have been drinking bourbon for a long time, love bourbon, but find the prices just outrageous today. So they want to try something different.”
Amy Pasquet owns JLP Cognac with her husband
JLP’s products were served at New York’s prestigious Met Gala.
They were preparing to launch new product lines in the US. But now that’s in doubt.
It is hard being an American in France now, Ms Pasquet says.
Her French neighbours are appalled by what US President Donald Trump is doing.
She continues: “They’re like, okay, America’s forgotten how close France and America are as far as (their) relationship is concerned. And I think that’s hurtful on both sides. I think it’s important to remember that the US is many things, and not just this one person, and there are millions of inhabitants that didn’t vote for him.”
A fresh challenge for a centuries-old tradition
Making cognac takes years, using techniques that go back centuries. In another vineyard we met Pierre Louis Giboin whose family have been doing it for more than 200 years.
In a cellar dating back to the French Revolution, barrels of oak sit under thick cobwebs, ageing the brandy.
The walls are lined with a unique black mould that thrives off the vapours of cognac.
They have seen threats come and go over those centuries, wars, weather, pestilence. But never from a country they regard as one of their oldest allies and best of customers.
Read more:
What China could do next as Trump’s tariff war
How tariffs will affect your money
Could Trump’s tariffs tip the world into recession?
Pierre Louis Giboin’s cellar dates back to the French revolution
Mr Trump’s tariffs, says Mr Giboin, now threaten a way of life.
“It’s at the end of like very good times in the Cognac region. It’s been like 10 years when everything’s been perfect, we have good harvest, we sell really easily all the stock, but now I mean it’s the end.”
Ms Pasquet and Mr Giboin are unusual.
Most cognac makers sell their produce through the drink’s four big houses, Hennessy, Remy Martin, Martell and Courvoisier.
Some have been told the amounts they can sell have been drastically reduced.
Independents though like them must find new markets if the tariff threat persists.
Confusion away from the chaos
Outside in the dappled light of a Cognac evening Mr Giboin and I toast glasses of pineau – the diluted form of cognac drunk as an aperitif.
In this idyllic corner of France, a world away from Washington, Mr Trump’s trade war on Europe simply makes no sense.
“He’s like angry against the whole world and the way he talks like that Europe the EU was made against the US to cheat on the US. It’s just crazy to think like this,” Mr Giboin says.
It’s not just what Mr Trump’s done. It’s how Europe now strikes back that concerns the French. And it’s not just in Cognac where they’re concerned
France exports more than €2bn worth of wine to America.
In the heart of the Bordeaux wine region, Sylvie Courselle’s family have been making wine since the 1940s at their Chateau Thieuley vineyard.
It’s bottling season but they can’t prepare the wine headed for America while everything is up in the air.
Showing me the unused reels of US labels for her wine she told me she was losing sleep over the uncertainty.
Later she was meeting with her American distributors.
Gerry Keogh sells Ms Courselle’s wine across the US.
He says the entire industry is reeling
Sylvie Courselle with distributers
The Chateau Thieuley vineyard in the Bordeaux wine region
“I think it’s like anything. You don’t really believe it’s happening. And even when you’re in the midst of it, it was kind of like 9/11.
“You’re like… This is actually happening. It’s unbelievable. And when you start seeing the repercussions from the stock market, et cetera, and how it’s impacting every level, it’s quite shocking.”
They know the crisis is far from over and could now escalate.
“We feel stuck in the middle of this commercial war and we don’t have the weapons to fight, I think,” Ms Courselle said.
It is, she says, very stressful.
Gerry Keogh
The histories of America and France have been intertwined for centuries through revolutions against tyranny and two wars fighting for liberty.
America used to call France its oldest ally, but under Mr Trump it is now being as turned on, as France, along with the rest of Europe, finds itself in what many would argue is a reckless and unjustified trade war.
It is all doing enormous harm to relations between the US and its European allies.
How Europe now decides to retaliate will help determine the extent of that damage.
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