Boris Johnson is facing urgent questions in parliament over what he knew about the behaviour of disgraced Tory MP Chris Pincher before appointing him as whip.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has been granted an urgent question in the Commons on the Pincher row on Tuesday afternoon.
She will ask Cabinet Office Minister Michael Ellis to “make a statement on the mechanisms for upholding standards in public life” after a bombshell claim from a former top civil servant that Downing Street was not being honest.
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Lord McDonald, former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, said that he would “dispute” No10’s version that issues with Pincher’s conduct at the department had been “resolved” and confirmed that the complaint made against him was upheld.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I dispute the use of the word resolved. For me resolved is too positive a word. It sounds as though a happy and agreed conclusion was reached.
“No, the complaint was upheld. So to leave the impression that in some way Mr Pincher was exonerated is wrong.”
Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip on Thursday after disgracing himself and allegedly groping two men in a London members club.
He lost the Tory whip on Friday but since then a slew of stories have emerged about his past conduct and how the Prime Minister was made aware of them.
On Tuesday Lord McDonald, a retired top mandarin, said Boris Johnson was told “in person” about the lurid allegations surrounding Chris Pincher’s groping behaviour three years ago.
McDonald spoke out to dispute the Downing Street account that the Prime Minister knew little about the deputy chief whip’s reputation before appointing him.
Angela Rayner said Lord McDonald’s letter showed Boris Johnson had “lied” about the appointment of Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip.
She said in a statement: “Boris Johnson’s desperate attempts to cover up what he knew about sexual assault complaints against Chris Pincher before appointing him have been blown out the water.”
“It is now clear that the Prime Minister knew about the seriousness of these complaints but decided to promote this man to a senior position in Government anyway. He refused to act and then lied about what he knew.”
SNP Shadow Cabinet Office spokesperson Brendan O’Hara MP called for a full investigation into the affair.
He said: “If the Prime Minister has lied, there is no question that he would have to resign.
“This evidence from a former senior official in the Foreign Office demolishes Boris Johnson’s claims and raises serious questions over whether he has lied and broken the ministerial code.”
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