Rishi Sunak has been accused of lacking integrity and leadership after it was revealed he is set to skip today’s vote on the Privileges Committee report.
Chris Pincher is facing a possible lengthy suspension from the House of Commons after the committee published a report over his conduct.
Boris Johnson’s handling of the row over his former chief whip was the final nail in the coffin of his premiership, triggering his resignation a year ago after an exodus of ministers from his administration.
The committee said that Pincher’s conduct at the exclusive Carlton Club in London was “profoundly damaging” and “especially grave” because it amounted to an abuse of power.
His actions were described as “unwanted, inappropriate and upsetting”, in what amounted to an “egregious case of sexual misconduct”.
Women and Equalities Committee chairwoman Caroline Nokes has called on the current prime minister to publicly back the report into Pincher
She said that doing so would give Chief Whip Simon Hart the licence to work across the House to draw up a tougher, clearer code of conduct to tackle rogue MPs.
But that doesn’t look like it is going to happen.
According to Byline Times reporter Adam Bienkov, Sunak is set to skip today’s vote.
His spokesperson also declined to say what the PM’s view is on the report or whether he had even read it.
Reacting to the news on social media, one person called it an “absolute disgrace” that he won’t be attending the debate.
He said it showed Sunak had “no backbone, no integrity and no leadership at all”.
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