LONDON, July 1 (PTI): British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, still under the shadow of the partygate scandal of Covid law-breaching parties in Downing Street, has been hit with yet another drunken scandal as an ally in charge of discipline within the governing party resigned.
Chris Pincher, 52, stepped down as the Deputy Chief Whip of the Conservative Party on Thursday night after admitting in his resignation letter that he “drank far too much” and “embarrassed myself and other people”. There have been growing calls for Johnson to suspend him from the party after allegations emerged of him groping two men at a private members’ club in London.
“Last night I drank far too much,” reads Pincher’s resignation letter.
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“I think the right thing to do in the circumstances is for me to resign as deputy chief whip. I owe it to you and the people I’ve caused upset to, to do this,” he said.
‘The Sun’ newspaper first reported the resignation, saying the senior Conservative MP was drinking at the Carlton Club in central London when he is said to have assaulted two other male guests. Several concerned Tory MPs contacted the Conservative whips’ office to complain about his behaviour, the paper claims.
Opposition Labour MP Yvette Cooper called for his suspension whilst the “really serious” allegations are formally investigated.
“This is about sexual assault,” she said.
“This latest episode shows how far standards in public life have been degraded on Boris Johnson’s watch. The Conservative Party is so mired in sleaze and scandal that it is totally unable to tackle the challenges facing the British people,” added Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner.
As Deputy Chief Whip, the Tory Member of Parliament for Tamworth had been responsible for party discipline and ensuring the smooth running of government business. It now marks the second time that Pincher has quit a government whip’s job.
In November 2017, he resigned as a junior whip after a complaint that he made an unwanted pass at former Olympic rower and Conservative Party candidate Alex Story.
But then Prime Minister Theresa May brought him back into a government position in 2018 by making him Deputy Chief Whip. In July 2019, Johnson moved Pincher to the Foreign Office as a junior minister before his return to the whips’ office again.
Britain’s Opposition parties say that the government has questions to answer about why Pincher was put into the position yet again.
Pincher’s resignation follows the high-profile exit of Oliver Dowden as chair of the Conservative Party in the wake of by-election defeats and the message that the governing party “cannot carry on with business as usual”.
However, Johnson has remained firm that he is getting on with the business of government and has no plans to either resign as prime minister or call an early election after he was fined and apologised in Parliament over lockdown breaches in government offices.
