A new sex scandal has rocked Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party. The number two of his parliamentary group, Chris Pincher, has resigned from his post after admitting that he subjected two men to sexual touching in the very private Carlton Club in London (the same one that did not authorize access to women until 2008) .
“The other night I drank too much,” Pincher acknowledged in his letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. “I made a fool of myself in front of other people and for that I apologize to you and to all those affected. Given the circumstances, I think it is best to resign as deputy head of the parliamentary group.”
Pincher has so far been second in charge of party discipline at Westminster. His resignation from office, although he remains, for the moment, a deputy, has created a new commotion in the ‘tories’, three weeks after the motion of censure against Johnson backed by 41% of his parliamentarians.
This is the fifth sex scandal to rock the Conservative Party in just three months. The first on the list was Deputy David Warburton, on April 3, under investigation for cocaine use and alleged abuse of three women.
On April 30, Neil Parish resigned as MP after admitting that he watched porn on his mobile during sessions of the House of Commons. On May 23, former Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan was sentenced to 18 months in prison for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
Earlier, on May 17, the police arrested another ‘Tory’ parliamentarian, accused of rape and sexual abuse. His identity has not yet been revealed.
Meanwhile, the resignation of Chris Pincher has reopened the succession of sexual scandals, popularly baptized as “Pestminster”. A Downing Street spokesman has reported that his case was considered “closed” following his resignation and that he does not consider it appropriate to open an investigation.
Pincher had already been implicated in another sex scandal in 2017, when he was accused of sexual advances by former Olympic rowing champion Alex Story. A former Labor MP later accused him of sexual harassment, although he was acquitted after an internal investigation and, surprisingly, promoted as deputy head of the parliamentary group.
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