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.
Andrew Bridgen kicked out of Tories over Covid jab comments
Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire MP, has been expelled from the Conservative Party after he made a comparison betwen Covid jabs and the Holocaust.
It was today revealed the 58-year-old had been kicked out the party earlier this month following the recommendation of a disciplinary panel.
Mr Bridgen had already been stripped of the Tory whip – meaning he sits in the House of Commons as an independent MP – in January.
It came after he claimed Covid vaccines were ‘the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust’.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned Mr Bridgen’s comments as ‘utterly unacceptable’.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘Mr Bridgen was expelled from the Conservative Party on April 12 following the recommendation of a disciplinary panel.
‘He has 28 days from this date to appeal.’
Mr Bridgen claimed his expulsion was under ‘false pretences’ and ‘only confirms the culture of corruption, collusion and cover-ups which plagues our political system’.
He vowed to stand again as a parliamentary candidate at the next general election.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said in a statement: ‘We are pleased to see that, following an investigation into the conduct of Andrew Bridgen MP, he has been expelled from the Conservative Party.
‘Suggesting that Covid vaccines are the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust is not an opinion which should be countenanced in any serious political party.’
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