Chris Pincher, deputy head of discipline at Westminster, has been banned from Conservative parliamentary group
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has lost one of his most staunch deputies in another incident of harassment or sexual misconduct that has shocked his government and the Conservative Party. Chris Pincher, a 52-year-old bachelor, has been suspended from Parliament’s faction over charges that he tried to grope two colleagues on a drunken evening at Club Carlton, the elite St James neighborhood association founded in the 19th century as a forum for contacts and gatherings of the Tories. He is the fifth Conservative legislator to face charges of wrongdoing so far this year.
Pincher resigned from his senior post in the Parliamentary Disciplinary Office the night before, but he kept Johnson’s confidence until Friday afternoon. Downing Street wanted to end the incident without causing new casualties in its banks over another scandal of its so-called “sexual bullying” policy. Johnson’s popularity remains low due to illegal parties during the coronavirus pandemic and last week voters boycotted Tory candidates in two partial elections, prompted precisely by the resignation of a MP who watched porn on his mobile from his seat in the House of Commons and a another colleague of the bank serving a prison sentence for assaulting a minor under the age of 15.
Johnson eventually gave in to the pressure and gave the green light to the suspension of the deputy head of the ‘whips’, those responsible until yesterday for imposing discipline in the House of Commons. “I had too much to drink last night and embarrassed myself and others… and for that I apologize to you and those involved,” Pincher wrote to the Prime Minister in his resignation letter, which was released after the sexual harassment allegations were revealed. in the tabloid ‘The Sun’.
It is the second time that the humiliated deputy has resigned from political office because of his sexual behavior. He left the post in 2017 when a Tory activist and Olympic rower, Alex Story, accused him of sensual advances and emotional blackmail. The allegation ultimately came to nothing, but suspicions about an apparent tendency to misbehave with other men were never cleared up in the Westminster area. The political platform claimed Friday that Downing Street was aware of the alleged flaws in Pincher’s personality before entrusting him with the key role of deputy in control of the Conservative parliamentary group.
The opposition has criticized Johnson’s delay in punishing his loyal associate. Pincher has bolstered his political career since running for mayor of London in 2012, leading this year’s ‘save Boris’ campaign, which has at least managed to keep the prime minister in Downing Street during the ongoing struggles. tidal wave of the ‘party gate’.
Source: La Verdad
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