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LONDON — Boris Johnson’s troubled prime ministership teeters on the brink after two of his most senior cabinet ministers resigned on Tuesday night.
The resignations of Rishi Sunak as chancellor and Sajid Javid as health secretary within minutes are the worst double blow the prime minister has suffered since entering Downing Street in 2019.
The drama erupted after days of questions in Westminster about exactly what Johnson knew about a scandal involving one of his key allies – Chris Pincher – who resigned from a government role amid sex-crime allegations.
After days of whistleblowing and an explosive official accusation from a former senior civil servant, Downing Street was forced to admit that Johnson had indeed been told in 2019 that Pincher was being investigated for separate allegations. Despite this knowledge, the prime minister appointed him as deputy chief whip, a role that ironically involved enforcing party discipline.
Johnson eventually apologized Tuesday and admitted that giving Pincher the job was “the wrong thing to do.”
But dealing with this latest chapter of the Westminster drama heightened the sense of a thrilling crisis engulfing the premier. On Tuesday night, Javid and Sunak decided they could no longer work with him.
POLITICO takes you through the story of the latest scandal, which appears to have been the last straw for two of the biggest beasts in the Johnson administration:
July 2016: Tamworth MP Chris Pincher gets his first government role in the whip’s office — tasked with overseeing state discipline — after Theresa May becomes prime minister.
November 2017: Pincher steps down from the role after former professional rower and Tory campaigner Alex Storey accuses him of making unwanted passes. Pincher denied the allegations, and a party investigation later cleared him of wrongdoing.
Chris Pincher was given his first government role in the whip’s office in July 2016 | Parliament of the United Kingdom
January 2018: Theresa May brings Pincher back into government as deputy chief whip in her minority government.
25 July 2019: Pincher is promoted to Minister of State at the Foreign Office after Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister.
Summer 2019: Officials complain to chief diplomat Simon Macdonald about Pincher’s behaviour. The allegations were described by Macdonald as “similar” to allegations of his behavior at the Carlton club last week. The investigation upheld the employees’ complaint. Pincher apologized and promised not to repeat the behavior, according to the McDonald’s account.
Late 2019: Johnson is notified of the complaint filed against Pincher by State Department officials following the investigation. Now Number 10 characterizes this as the Prime Minister being informed rather than asked to act as the problem has been solved.
February 2020: Pincher is transferred to the Communities Department.
9 February 2022: After playing a key role in so-called ‘Operation Save Big Dog’ – an effort by allies of the prime minister to secure support in the wake of a leadership threat – Pincher returns to the key parliamentary post of deputy -main whip.
In the hours after his appointment, an allegation was reviewed by the office’s integrity and ethics team. No 10 says that a complaint other than the Foreign Office complaint was raised and considered but not taken forward and therefore it was not considered appropriate to prevent Pincher from taking on that role.
June 30: Pincher resigns, saying he “embarrassed himself” after drinking too much. An anonymous Downing Street source told the BBC he would face no further action from the party and would keep the whip – meaning he could remain a Conservative MP. Three sources tell POLITICO that the prime minister was made aware of the allegations against Pincher during the reshuffle that saw him elevated to deputy chief whip.
July 1: At the regular Friday briefing of Westminster journalists, the Prime Minister’s Deputy Spokesman insists the Prime Minister was unaware of any allegations against Pincher at the time of his promotion in February. Later in the briefing, he corrected himself, saying Johnson was not aware of any “specific” allegations against Pincher.
Later on July 1: Pincher suspends the whipping while the Independent Complaints and Complaints Scheme, the official complaints handling mechanism, investigates the groping allegations.
July 2: Pincher says he is seeking professional medical help.
July 3: Asked on Sunday’s political TV shows what the Prime Minister knew, Work and Pensions Minister Therese Coffey told Sky News: “I’m not aware that he was made aware of specific allegations about a specific incident.” I don’t believe he was aware.”
July 4: Just after 7am: Will Quince, a junior minister, tells Sky News: “I have been waiting for this question, I spoke to No 10 both yesterday and this morning and I asked firmly and clearly for an explanation of what had happened. And I was assured categorically that the Prime Minister was not aware of any specific allegations or complaints against the former Deputy Chief Whip.
Former top diplomat Simon Macdonald publishes letter claiming Boris Johnson was briefed on investigation from 2019 | Will Oliver/EPA-EFE
11:30am: On the regular tape of a Downing Street briefing, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman bucked the official line, telling reporters the Prime Minister was aware of “some allegations” that were “either resolved or not progressing “. But he said: “At the time of the appointment, the Prime Minister was not aware of any specific allegations being considered.”
10.00pm: The BBC reports that the Prime Minister has been made aware of the complaint since 2019 while Pincher was working at the Foreign Office.
July 5: 7am Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab confirms during a media briefing that Pincher was investigated for alleged inappropriate behavior while a minister at the Foreign Office, but says it has not led to disciplinary action. Raab was foreign minister at the time of the investigation.
7.30am Former chief diplomat Simon MacDonald has published a letter claiming Johnson was in fact informed about the investigation since 2019 and warning No 10 Downing Street that he should “own up”.
12pm: The Prime Minister’s spokesman tells reporters he has subsequently learned that Johnson told the Foreign Office about the investigation. Meanwhile, in the House of Commons, chief administrator Michael Ellis told MPs the prime minister had been notified but “didn’t immediately recall the conversation”.
6pm: Johnson apologizes in a TV clip, saying appointing Pincher was “the wrong thing”.
18:02: Sajid Javid announces on Twitter that he has resigned as Health Secretary. In his resignation letter, he says the Tory party is no longer popular or seen as competent. “It is clear to me that this situation will not change under your leadership – and therefore you have lost my trust as well.”
6:11 pm: Rishi Sunak leaves, tweeting: “The public rightly expects the government to be run properly, competently and seriously. I recognize that this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for, and that is why I am resigning.
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