Boris Johnson forgot he had been briefed about an investigation into concerns about Tory Chris Pincher's conduct at the Foreign Office, a minister has admitted.
Paymaster General Michael Ellis admitted the PM had been "made aware" of concerns about alleged inappropriate behaviour by Mr Pincher when he was a Foreign Office Minister in 2019.
Mr Ellis told MPs that officials had raised concerns with the permanent secretary about Mr Pincher in October 2019, who commissioned the Cabinet Office to "establish facts" about what took place.
Speaking in the Commons, he said: "The exercise established that while the minister meant no harm, what had occurred had caused a high level of discomfort. This is what the exercise established. The minister apologised and those raising the concern accepted the resolution.
"The Prime Minister was made aware of this issue in late 2019, he was told that the permanent secretary had taken the necessary action, no issue therefore arose about remaining as a minister.
"Last week when fresh allegations arose, the Prime Minister did not immediately recall the conversation in late 2019 about this incident. As soon as he was reminded, the No 10 press office corrected their public lines."
He claimed that the Prime Minister "acted with probity at all times".
The top Tory refused to comment on further allegations, adding: "It is possible that a police investigation may follow.
"So, it is clear the sub judice rule should apply to individual cases, both because of the interests of justice to everyone concerned - both to those accused and those who are potential victims."
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner, who secured the urgent question, said there was an "ethical vacuum" in No10.
She added: "The Prime Minister was personally informed about these allegations and yet he was either negligent or complicit."
Tory MP Jackie Doyle-Price argued that the rumours swirling around should have prevented the PM from appointing Mr Pincher to the whips office, which has a responsibility for MPs welfare.
She said: "The very whiff of rumours and historic incidents that Simon McDonald referred to in his letter today should have been enough to tell the Prime Minister that that appointment wasn't wise, and he could have made use of the honourable gentleman's talents in a different department, as he had done previously."
Labour MP Chris Bryant, who chairs the Commons Standards Committee, said "many decent Conservative MPs feel terribly ashamed by everything that is happening in this sordid process".
Mr Ellis was hauled to the Commons to answer questions about standards in public life amid a growing row about what the Prime Minister knew about allegations against the former deputy chief whip.
Mr Pincher - who resigned over claims he groped two men last week - has strenuously denied multiple allegations of inappropriate behaviour dating back years.
Former top Foreign Office official Sir Simon McDonald today suggested No10 had lied over initial claims that Mr Johnson had not been aware of any "specific allegations" against Mr Pincher when he appointed him to the whips office in the February reshuffle.
No10 also admitted Mr Johnson was told about a full-blown investigation into Chris Pincher.
Downing Street finally admitted the Prime Minister was told of two separate allegations against the top Tory, once in 2020 and once in 2022, before making him Deputy Chief Whip.
The first briefing came after an October 2019 Foreign Office investigation into Mr Pincher - which involved the Foreign Secretary, head of the Foreign Office, Chief Whip, and an ethics team in the Cabinet Office.
No10 confirmed the 2019 complaint against Mr Pincher was “upheld”, though it did not lead to formal disciplinary action, and said Mr Johnson was briefed verbally about it in 2020.
The spokesman also confirmed Mr Johnson was told about a second, separate set of allegations in February 2022 when giving Mr Pincher a whips’ job.
The allegations went to the Propriety and Ethics Team (PET) in the Cabinet Office. Tory sources had previously suggested PET signed off the appointment.
One said on Friday that the appointment was “cleared by the civil service - they cleared it, so the appropriate checks were made”.
But the PM’s official spokesman contradicted this, saying PET does not clear appointments - it only provides advice.
The decision was made by the Prime Minister and his aides.
The revelations utterly contradict Friday, when No10 told reporters Mr Johnson was not aware of “specific allegations” before giving him the job.
Yet the PM’s official spokesman denied he had misled journalists - instead suggesting the PM had simply forgotten.
The spokesman said it was “broadly” correct that the PM had a conversation with officials on Friday and couldn’t remember being briefed in 2020, after which officials then discovered he had, in fact, been briefed.
Asked if he’d forgotten, the spokesman replied: “I mean, I haven’t asked him directly but he didn’t recall it at that time.”
He said officials later found out about the 2020 briefing late on Sunday night or Monday morning.
Asked if he planned on telling journalists the truth today, the spokesman said: “Yes in short.
“I will always seek to provide information I have available to me at the time of each briefing.”
The spokesman couldn’t say if Prime Minister had already forgotten about Mr Pincher’s 2019 probe by the time he gave him a whips’ job this year.
“He had certainly been informed of it at that point”, the spokesman said - but couldn’t say if it’d then slipped his mind.
Asked if either the Prime Minister had given his spokesman false information, or the spokesman had deliberately misled the press, the spokesman replied: “I wouldn’t characterise it in either of those terms”.
But he admitted: “It has taken a number of days to get some of that information out.”
The spokesman said “someone in the Cabinet Office” briefed the PM on the 2019 investigation “a number of months” after the issues were first raised, but could not say who.
Despite the fact a claim was upheld about Mr Pincher, Boris Johnson was told about it, and then he gave him a job anyway, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “The PM wouldn’t want to see this behaviour from any of his ministers”.
