Downing Street says Boris Johnson forgot he was briefed about disgraced MP Chris Pincher

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Downing Street was forced to admit that Boris Johnson was briefed in 2019 on allegations against disgraced Tory MP Chris Pincher but said he had forgotten about it, as the UK prime minister faced fresh charges that his office had not told the truth over the incident.

Lord Simon McDonald, former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, had earlier said that Pincher, the former deputy chief whip, was subject to a formal investigation over inappropriate behaviour while a minister in the department in 2019 and that Johnson was told about it.

In a highly damaging letter to the parliamentary standards commissioner, McDonald said Number 10’s original claim that Johnson was not aware of “specific allegations” about Pincher’s behaviour was “not true”.

Downing Street later admitted that Johnson was indeed briefed in 2019 on allegations against Pincher. A minister told MPs that misleading statements were given by Number 10 because Johnson had forgotten the incident.

Michael Ellis, Cabinet Office minister, said: “The prime minister did not immediately recall the conversation of 2019 about this incident. As soon as he was reminded, the No 10 press office corrected their public lines.”

Ellis told MPs that Pincher had claimed in 2019 that he “meant no harm” in his behaviour, but that it had caused “a high level of discomfort”.

Tory MP Caroline Johnson, not normally a critic of the prime minister, asked why Pincher had not been sacked at the time, why the police were not involved and why Johnson gave him another job.

Angela Rayner, Labour deputy leader, said Johnson’s defence had been “blown apart” and Tory MPs criticised the prime minister for appointing Pincher as deputy chief whip in 2019, given his past record.

William Wragg, Tory chair of the Commons public administration committee, called on cabinet members to “consider their positions” and ask themselves if they could any longer serve under Johnson.

“This is not a question of systems but political judgment,” he said. “That political judgment can’t be delegated.” Downing Street said the Pincher affair was not raised at Tuesday’s cabinet.

Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip last week after admitting he had drunk too much at a private members club and had “embarrassed” himself and others. He is accused of groping two men.

McDonald told the BBC he decided to speak out because Number 10 had “five full days to get the story correct and that has still not happened”. He said Number 10 appeared to be telling the truth while “crossing their fingers at the same time”.

The affair will infuriate ministers who have been repeatedly sent out to defend Johnson with lines that subsequently disintegrate as new evidence emerges or with an incomplete account of what the prime minister knew.

Downing Street initially claimed Johnson was not aware of “specific allegations” against Pincher before he was appointed to the whips’ office in February this year.

Dominic Raab, deputy prime minister and former foreign secretary, confirmed on Tuesday that Pincher had been formally investigated while he was a Foreign Office minister for allegedly inappropriate behaviour in the summer of 2019.

Speaking before Number 10 confirmed that Johnson had been briefed on the investigation, Raab told the BBC he had discussed the issue with Johnson within the past 24 hours and it was “not my understanding that he was directly briefed”.

Following allegations that Johnson lied over the “partygate” scandal — a parliamentary inquiry is looking at whether he knowingly misled parliament — the affair will reignite questions over the UK prime minister’s probity.

Downing Street admitted on Monday that Johnson knew of “allegations that were either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint”, adding that there were no “substantiated” allegations against Pincher when he was made deputy chief whip in February.

McDonald wrote in his letter to Kathryn Stone, parliamentary standards commissioner: “The original Number 10 line is not true and the modification is still not accurate.

“Mr Johnson was briefed in person about the initiation and the outcome of the investigation. There was ‘a formal complaint’.

“Allegations were ‘resolved’ only in the sense the investigation was completed; Mr Pincher was not exonerated. To characterise the allegations as ‘unsubstantiated’ is therefore wrong.”