- The former head of the Foreign Office accused Downing Street of not telling the truth.
- Spokespeople have claimed Boris Johnson was unaware of allegations against Chris Pincher.
- Simon McDonald said Johnson did know, and was personally briefed about it in 2019.
The UK's former top diplomat accused Downing Street of not telling the truth in their explanations for what Boris Johnson knew when he appointed Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip.
Lord Simon McDonald, a career civil servant who headed the Foreign Office from 2015 to 2020, published a letter Tuesday morning pushing back on claims by Johnson's spokespeople that he was unaware of specific allegations against Pincher.
McDonald said that, following Pincher's appointment by Johnson to the Foreign Office in July 2019, a number of officials complained about inappropriate behaviour by Pincher.
He said the allegations were investigated and upheld. He did not give specifics, but said the claims were similar to the allegations that Pincher groped two men at the Carlton Club.
"Mr Johnson was briefed in person about the initiation and outcome of the investigation", McDonald wrote.
McDonald told the BBC he knew this was the case because the senior official who briefed Johnson told him about it at the time.
This contradicts a number of changing claims made by Johnson's spokespeople since the latest allegations about Pincher's conduct were made public, McDonald said. The spokespeople have claimed Johnson was unaware of formal complaints and described allegations as "unsubstantiated".
"The original No 10 line is not true and the modification is still not accurate," McDonald wrote.
"There was a 'formal complaint'. Allegations were 'resolved' only in the sense that the investigation was completed; Mr Pincher was not exonerated. To characterise the allegations as 'unsubstantiated' is therefore wrong."
