U.K. Conservative Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher tendered his resignation Thursday after allegations surfaced that he groped two men during a boozy night out at a club.
Pincher conceded that he “drank far too much” Wednesday night while at the Carlton Club in London and apologized to Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his actions in a resignation letter. Multiple Conservative members of Parliament complained about his alleged behavior, the Sun reported.
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“Last night I drank far too much. I’ve embarrassed myself and other people which is the last thing I want to do and for that, I apologise to you and to those concerned. I think the right thing to do in the circumstances is for me to resign as Deputy Chief Whip,” he wrote in the letter. “It has been the honour of my life to have served in Her Majesty’s Government.”
The Carlton Club is an exclusive venue for Conservative members located near Parliament, according to the Sun.
Pincher’s resignation Thursday marks the second time he’s stepped down from the whip’s office. In 2017, Pincher stepped down as assistant whip after an Olympic rower accused him of making unwanted advances toward him nine years prior, the outlet reported. He reportedly described Pincher as donning a bathrobe akin to a “pound shop Harvey Weinstein.”
Pincher had been serving as chief deputy whip since February. Whips are tasked with ginning up key votes and organizing member contributions to parliamentary proceedings.
It is not immediately clear who will succeed Pincher, but so far, there are no plans to take additional action against him, meaning that he could still continue serving as a member of Parliament, the BBC reported.
“I owe it to you and the people I’ve caused upset to, to do this. I want to assure you that you will continue to have my full support from the back benches, and I wish you all the best as you deal with aftershocks of COVID and the challenges of international inflation,” Pincher said.
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Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour Party, the chief political rival to the Conservative Party, was quick to chastise Johnson over the incident. She stressed that he “has serious questions” to answer about how Pincher got the whip position in the first place.
“There cannot be any question of the Conservatives sweeping a potential sexual assault under the carpet,” she said, per the BBC. “The Conservative Party is so mired in sleaze and scandal that it is totally unable to tackle the challenges facing the British people.”
