Boris Johnson was briefed in person about Chris Pincher allegations in 2019 and No10 line not true, says peer

Boris Johnson was briefed “in person” about an allegation of inappropriate behaviour against disgraced MP Chris Pincher in 2019, a former Foreign Office official has claimed.

The crossbench peer has written to the Parliamentary Commissioner of Standards to call out “inaccurate claims” made by No 10 over the allegations surrounding Mr Pincher.

Sir Simon McDonald, a former British diplomat who was the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office from 2015-2020, has accused Downing Street of repeatedly changing its story on whether Boris Johnson knew about the complaints made against the disgraced MP.

Sharing a copy of his letter on Twitter, Lord McDonald wrote: “This morning I have written to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards – because No 10 keep changing their story and are still not telling the truth.”

It comes as No 10 keep giving different explanations on whether the Prime Minister was aware of any allegations made against Mr Pincher.

Downing Street spent days insisting Mr Johnson was not aware of the allegations facing his former deputy chief whip before appointing him.

But No 10 then rowed back and said he was not aware of any “specific allegations”.

Lord McDonald has now refuted this last claim, and said Mr Johnson was briefed about the complaint in 2019.

Less than half an hour earlier Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said Mr Johnson was not “briefed directly” about the complaint.

In the letter, the peer confirmed that a formal complaint had been made against Mr Pincher in 2019, when he worked as a foreign office minister.

Lord McDonald said: “The original No 10 line is not true and the modification is still not accurate. Mr Johnson wasbriefed in person about the initiation and outcome of the investigation.

“There was a ‘formal complaint’. Allegations were ‘resolved’ only in the sense that the investigation was completed; MrPincher was not exonerated. To characterise the allegations as “unsubstantiated” is therefore wrong.”

He later told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that No 10 needed to “come clean” over their handling of questions about the Prime Minister’s awareness of allegations against Mr Pincher.

“I think they need to come clean,” he said. “I think that the language is ambiguous, the sort of telling the truth and crossing your fingers at the same time and hoping that people are not too forensic in their subsequent questioning and I think that is not working.”

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Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Raab said the PM was not “briefed directly” about a complaint of inappropriate misconduct by Mr Pincher made while he was a foreign office minister in 2019.

He told the Today Programme: “In relation to what happened in 2019, I’m not aware that the Prime Minister was briefed directly about it.

“I have discussed this with the Prime Minister over the last 24 hours, it is not my understanding that he was directly briefed.”

He added: “In relation to the 2019 allegation or complaint, whilst there was inappropriate behaviour, it didn’t trip the wire into disciplinary action.”

The Lib Dems have responded to Lord McDonald’s letter and said the PM needs to “come clean” and tell the truth.

Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said: “Lord McDonald has shone a new light on this murky cover-up.

“Boris Johnson needs to own up to his web of lies and finally come clean today. Every day this carries on our politics gets dragged further through the mud.”

It comes just days after Mr Pincher quit his role as deputy chief whip after he was accused of drunkenly groping two men at a private members’ club in London on Wednesday night.

He was suspended as a Conservative MP the day after the allegations were made and has since faced six new claims of inappropriate behaviour stretching back several years, all of which he has denied.

The Taunton MP had previously resigned in 2017 after Conservative candidate Alex Story accused him of making an inappropriate advance. He was cleared of wrongdoing by a party investigation and was appointed as deputy chief whip in February.

This story has been updated.