A Tory minister says he has been given a "categorical assurance" that Boris Johnson was not aware of "serious specific allegations" against his former deputy chief whip.
Education minister Will Quince was asked why the Prime Minister gave Chris Pincher a job in the first place.
The whip was removed from the Tamworth MP after he resigned following allegations of groping two men in a private members' club in London last week.
READ MORE: Chris Pincher has Tory whip suspended as probe launched into claims he groped two men
Quine insisted that Johnson was not aware of any specific allegations against Pincher before appointing him in February earlier this year.
The Conservative MP told Sky News he had spoken to No 10 to seek assurances on the matter.
He said: "I have been given categorical assurance that the Prime Minister was not aware of any serious specific allegation with regards to the former deputy chief whip.
"I think these cases are hard because, like any professional organisation, you can't act on rumour or gossip.
"As you know, in Westminster there is a lot of rumour or gossip.
"It's why it's also so important that when people do witness something which is clearly appalling, well below the standard behaviour we should rightly expect from members of parliament and those who work on the parliamentary estate that it's reported, and we encourage everybody to come forward and whether it's the police or the parliamentary authorities, so action can be taken like it was in this case."
Quince also said he "doesn't give much credibility" to what Dominic Cummings says, after the former No 10 adviser alleged that Johnson had referred to Chris Pincher as "Pincher by name, pincher by nature" long before appointing him in February.
The Conservative MP told BBC Breakfast: "Nor am I going to comment on speculation or gossip or rumour as to what may or may not have been said.
"But what I will say is this, that I anticipated this question, I spoke to Number 10, both yesterday and this morning, and I asked firmly and clearly for an explanation as to what had happened and I have been given a categorical assurance that the Prime Minister was not aware of any specific allegation or complaint made against the former deputy chief whip."
Asked about whether the PM was aware of more general allegations, he said that no organisation can take action on "generality or indeed rumour".
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