https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-62048657

I’d be very surprised if Johnson can continue as UK PM after this.

For background from Wikipedia:

Sexual misconduct allegations
On 5 November 2017, Pincher resigned as Comptroller of the Household (Assistant Whip) and voluntarily referred himself to the Conservative Party’s complaints procedure and the police, as part of the 2017 Westminster sexual misconduct allegations. He was accused of sexual assault by former Olympic rower and Conservative candidate Alex Story.[33] In 2017, Story alleged that he had been the subject of unwanted sexual advances from Pincher in 2001, when the MP invited Story to his flat, where Pincher massaged his neck and talked about his “future in the Conservative Party”, before changing into a bathrobe. Recounting the episode, Story said that Pincher’s advances had made him seem like a “pound shop Harvey Weinstein”.[a][34] Pincher said that “I do not recognise either the events or the interpretation placed on them” and that “if Mr Story has ever felt offended by anything I said then I can only apologise to him”.[34] Pincher was also accused of “touching up” former Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop, who told him to “fuck off”.[33] On 23 December 2017, the Conservative Party’s investigating panel determined that Pincher had not breached the code of conduct.[35]

Pincher resigned as a Government Deputy Chief Whip on 30 June 2022, after he admitted being very drunk the night before at the private Carlton Club, a private members’ club, in St James’s, London and having “embarrassed myself and other people”.[36] It was alleged that he had groped two men.[37] Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said that “the latest episode” showed that standards in public life had dropped under Boris Johnson. Rayner maintained Johnson should explain why Pincher was made a parliamentary whip and how he could stay a Conservative MP. There were calls, from unnamed Conservative MPs, for a by-election to be held in Pincher’s seat,[b] as the events were considered “much worse” than when the former Conservative MP Neil Parish was caught watching pornography in the House of Commons earlier in the year.[38][39] Labour Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the full truth was needed about events and allegations, asking for the whip to be withdrawn from Pincher as a start, and saying that standards in public life were involved.[40] Liberal Democrat Wendy Chamberlain said the allegations were so serious it was hard to see how Pincher could stay an MP. She called for a thorough investigation and for Pincher to lose the Conservative whip.[41] He was suspended as a Conservative MP[42] but will stay in parliament as an independent.[43][44] Rayner said Johnson had been “dragged kicking and screaming into taking any action at all.”[45] Shadow Minister of State at the Cabinet Office Jenny Chapman said what Johnson knew when he appointed Pincher, who is a party ally, as whip is unclear. “We want to know who knew what and when and why those decisions were made the way they were. I don’t think anybody in Westminster believes that Boris Johnson did not know about the allegations about Mr Pincher.”[46]

On 3 July 2022 six new allegations against Pincher emerged, involving behaviour over a decade. Three complaints are that Pincher made unwanted advances against other male MPs, one in a bar at the House of Commons and one in Pincher’s parliamentary office. One complainant reportedly gave Downing Street details in February and expressed concerns over Pincher becoming a whip in charge of other MP’s welfare. Pincher maintained he had no intention of resigning as an MP.[47]

Johnson allegedly referred to Pincher as “handsy” and Dominic Cummings said Johnson joked about him being “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” in 2020. There are calls for Johnson to explain how much he knew about Pincher’s behaviour. Labour MP Jonathan Reynolds said: “I think we’ve got to acknowledge what the consistent problem is and it is a Conservative party that repeatedly chooses to do what is politically expedient over what is right. It’s clear from what we know this morning that Chris Pincher should never have been put back into the whips’ office.”[48][49]

Ministers initially said that Johnson was unaware of any specific complaints against Pincher when he was appointed as deputy chief whip. Later, Downing Street said Johnson was aware at the time of media reports and allegations that were “either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint”. The BBC then reported, however, that an official complaint and subsequent investigation into Pincher, while he was at the Foreign Office (July 2019 to February 2020), had confirmed his misconduct, and that Johnson had been made aware of the matter at that time.[50] Sir Simon McDonald, former Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, later confirmed that the prime minister had been briefed “in person” about Pincher.[51] McDonald said that in the summer of 2019, a group of officials had “complained to me about Mr Pincher’s behaviour. In substance, the allegations were similar to those made about his behaviour at the Carlton Club.”[52]