Chris Pincher – the ex-Tory whip who faced groping claims in a row that led to Boris Johnson’s downfall last summer – will quit the Commons at the next general election
- The Tamworth MP will not seek re-election to the House of Commons
Ex-Tory whip Chris Pincher – who faced groping claims in a row that led to Boris Johnson‘s downfall last summer – will quit Parliament at the next general election.
The Tamworth MP will not seek re-election to the House of Commons following the furious sleaze row that erupted last summer.
Mr Pincher quit as the Conservative deputy chief whip in late June following claims he drunkenly groped two men at a posh London members’ club.
He was subsequently suspended from the Tory parliamentary party and has spent the last nine months sitting in the Commons as an independent MP.
A fierce row over Mr Johnson’s handling of the scandal caused a fresh mutiny among Tory MPs against his leadership and his downfall as PM came days later in early July.
Chris Pincher, the MP for Tamworth, will not seek re-election to the House of Commons following the furious sleaze row that erupted last summer
A fierce row over Boris Johnson’s handling of the scandal caused a fresh mutiny among Tory MPs against his leadership and his downfall as PM came days later in early July
Mr Pincher remains under investigation by the Commons’ Standards Commissioner over ‘actions causing significant damage to the reputation of the House as a whole, or of its members generally’.
The 53-year-old has been MP for Tamworth since the 2010 general election and has served as a minister in the Foreign Office and the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities, as well as two spells in the Tory whips’ office.
According to the BBC, a number of current Conservative MPs have applied to be the party’s new parliamentary candidate in Tamworth.
Walsall North MP Eddie Hughes, whose current seat will be affected by boundary changes at the next general election, is said to be among the front runners.
The Tories will choose a replacement for Mr Pincher this summer, it was reported.
Mr Pincher retained his Tamworth seat with a near 20,000-vote majority at the 2019 general election.
The Staffordshire constituency was last held by Labour in 2005.