Chris Pincher: No 10 not telling the truth, says ex-senior civil servant

No 10 did not tell the truth when it said the PM was unaware of official complaints about Chris Pincher’s behaviour, an ex-civil servant in the Foreign Office has said.

Simon McDonald said Boris Johnson had been “briefed in person” about an investigation into Mr Pincher, then a Foreign Office minister.

The foreign secretary at the time, and now justice secretary, Dominic Raab, said everything had been “done by the book”.

He told the BBC it was “factually incorrect” to say the PM had been briefed.

Mr Pincher, the MP for Tamworth, was suspended as a Conservative Party MP last week over allegations he groped two men at a private members’ club in London. He says he is seeking professional medical support and has no intention of resigning as an MP.

On Monday, Downing Street said Mr Johnson was not aware of any specific allegations against Mr Pincher when he appointed him deputy chief whip.

However, later that day, the BBC found that the prime minister had been aware of a formal complaint about the MP.

And now, in a strongly-worded letter to the parliamentary standards commissioner, Sir Simon has disputed No 10’s version of events.

Sir Simon, who was the Foreign Office’s most senior civil servant from 2015 to 2020, said that in the summer of 2019, a group of officials had “complained to me about Mr Pincher’s behaviour”.

He said an investigation upheld the complaint adding that: “Mr Pincher apologised and promised not to repeat the inappropriate behaviour.”

“Mr Johnson was briefed in person about the initiation and outcome of the investigation,” he added.

Image caption,

Sir Simon McDonald at the Foreign Office in 2018

Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, Mr Raab said: “I have discussed this with the prime minister over the last 24 hours, it is not my understanding that he was directly briefed.”

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

Appearing on the same programme shortly afterwards, Sir Simon defended his assertion saying: “I know that the senior official briefed the prime minister in person because that official told me that at the time.”

“Such complaints about ministers are very rare, very sensitive, they are dealt with at the very top level and so I had the help and support of the Cabinet Office throughout the investigation.”

He said Downing Street needed to “come clean” adding: “No 10 have had five full days to get the story correct and that has still not happened.”