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Labour has blasted Boris Johnson for claiming shamed Chris Pincher did the “decent thing” by quitting as Deputy Chief Whip amid groping allegations.

Chairwoman Anneliese Dodds demanded the Prime Minister should think again.

In a scathing letter to Mr Johnson, she said: “The fact you regard it as ‘decent’ reveals a great deal about what you regard as acceptable standards of behaviour.”

She also piled pressure on the PM to come clean over what he knew of previous claims about the Tamworth MP, and when.

On Sunday the disgraced Tory enforcer faced further groping allegations dating back a decade.

The PM is under fire for claiming Pincher did the “decent thing” by quitting his post on Thursday amid claims that he had groped two men at the Carlton Club the night before.

The PM delayed suspending the party whip from Pincher until Friday.

Labour Chairwoman Anneliese Dodds blasted in a letter to Mr Johnson: “The British people deserve to know why Mr Pincher was appointed as the Deputy Chief Whip when he has a history of alleged inappropriate sexual behaviour.”

Pincher had previously quit the whips’ office in 2017 after a complaint that he had made an unwanted pass at former Olympic rower and Tory candidate Alex Story. Mr Story alleged the MP had untucked the back of his shirt, massaged his neck and whispered: “You’ll go far in the Conservative Party .”

Pincher is alleged to have made further unwanted passes at two Conservative MPs in 2017 and 2018. Another Tory MP also claimed he was groped on two occasions by Pincher, first in December 2021 and again last month.

It was also alleged he threatened to report a parliamentary researcher to her boss after she tried to stop his “lecherous” advances to a young man at a party conference. It has previously been claimed Pincher “touched up” ex-Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop, who told him to “f*** off”.

The PM’s former top adviser Dominic Cummings alleged Mr Johnson referred to “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” long before appointing him Deputy Chief Whip in February. One report claimed Mr Johnson told aides he had the “support of all the sex pests” in the Tory party for his successful 2019 leadership bid.

Yet, defending the PM’s decision to hire him, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey insisted yesterday that he had not known about “specific claims”.

She said: “I don’t believe he was aware, that’s what I’ve been told today.”

One of last week’s accusers said he was “shell-shocked” by the decision not to immediately kick Pincher out of the parliamentary party. He told the Sunday Times: “I am angered…by the way No10 have dealt with it.”

Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the Tory Party “repeatedly chooses to do what is politically expedient over what is right”.

He added: “It’s clear from what we know this morning that Chris Pincher should never have been put back into the Whips’ Office.”

After Pincher quit on Thursday a Tory source said: “The PM thinks he’s done the decent thing by resigning.”

But in her letter to Mr Johnson published tonight, Ms Dodds fumed: “I would like to place on record how inappropriate it was to suggest Mr Pincher did the ‘decent thing’ in resigning. His resignation is the very least that anyone expects.

“The fact that you regard it as ‘decent’ reveals a great deal about what you regard as acceptable standards of behaviour and I urge you to reconsider this language.”

She added: “The British people deserve to know why Mr Pincher was appointed as Deputy Chief Whip when he has a history of alleged ­inappropriate sexual behaviour.”

She asked whether “you or senior members of your advisory team, including your Chief of Staff, [were] made aware of allegations of inappropriate behaviour by Mr Pincher prior to his appointment”.

The scandal is the latest to hit the Tories in recent months.

In May, Neil Parish quit as MP for Tiverton and Honiton after admitting viewing porn in the Commons. In April, then-Wakefield MP Imran Ahmad Khan was jailed for 18 months for sexually assaulting a boy of 15. The Tories lost both ensuing by-elections.

A third unnamed Tory MP has been told to stay away from Parliament after being arrested on suspicion of rape and other offences.

Pincher said in a statement that he would “cooperate fully” with an investigation by Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme and that he was seeking “professional medical support”.

Neither he nor his lawyers responded to the specific claims when the Mirror contacted them yesterday. But newspapers which published the allegations said he denied them.

Boris Johnson is under growing pressure to come clean about what he knew of Chris Pincher – as the MP faces claims of groping multiple people over the past decade.

The former Tory Deputy Chief Whip is alleged to have made unwanted passes at two Conservative MPs in 2017 and 2018 – after his first resignation as a whip, according to The Sunday Times.

And it’s claimed Boris Johnson had joked about the MP being “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” in 2020, long before he made him Deputy Chief Whip in February.

Bitter former aide Dominic Cummings , who calls Mr Johnson the ‘trolley’, tweeted: “If [trolley emoji] didn’t know about Pincher as he’s claiming, why did he repeatedly refer to him laughingly in no10 as ‘pincher by name pincher by nature’ long before appointing him…?

“[Trolley emoji] lying again but even the Pravda-Mail struggling to spin the latest lies… #RegimeChange coming.”

Downing Street have not denied this claim, with one insider admitting Mr Johnson sometimes uses “burlesque humour”.

Yet No10 has insisted Boris Johnson did not know “specific” allegations about Mr Pincher when he gave him the Deputy Chief Whip job in February.

Top Tory Therese Coffey today told Sky News: “I’m not aware that he was made aware of specific claims about any particular incident.

“But you were asking about more general rumours – and I’ve no idea what conversations have been had.”

The Work and Pensions Secretary said she is not “part of the general chatter, rumour mill discussions” and was unaware of concerns about Mr Pincher, but added: “I don’t believe he’s been in a long-term relationship.”

Ms Coffey added: “I’ve been informed this morning he [Boris Johnson] did not know about specific allegations.” Asked who told her this, she replied: “Somebody from the No10 press office”.

She went on to say she had not spoken to the PM and “I can only give you to the best of my knowledge”.

Mr Pincher’s appointment was only announced four hours after he left No10 on the day of the February reshuffle, after it was sent for clearance by the Cabinet Office ethics team.

He had previously resigned from the whips’ office after ex-Olympic rower Alex Story alleged Pincher took him to his flat, massaged his neck and tried to untuck his shirt while saying: “You will go far in the Conservative Party .”

Mr Pincher was later cleared of wrongdoing over the incident in 2001, before he was an MP, by a Conservative probe.

Reports emerged today that Craig Whittaker, who resigned as a whip during the reshuffle for “personal reasons”, raised concerns about Mr Pincher’s appointment.

“He remonstrated over Pincher’s putative behaviour. He refused to serve,” a government source told the Sunday Telegraph.

“There was considerable ill-feeling in the whips’ office about Pincher’s appointment.”

Tory officials have not denied Mr Whittaker raised concerns. However, Mr Whittaker issued a statement today insisting: “Following press speculation I want to clarify that I left the Whips’ Office in February 2022 due to health issues I was experiencing at the time.”

New allegations emerged today about Mr Pincher’s behaviour.

He was alleged to have put his hand firmly on the inside leg of the an MP in 2017, and made an “unwanted physical advance” to a second MP in 2018, the Sunday Times reported.

Both incidents are said to have taken place in Parliament, the first in a room with other people and the second in Mr Pincher’s office.

The Mirror has contacted Mr Pincher and his lawyers for comment about these allegations.

According to the Sunday Times, he has denied acting inappropriately in these alleged cases. He denied the 2018 incident and said he did not know the identity of the MP.

Meanwhile the newspaper carried fresh details of an allegation from one of two men Mr Pincher is alleged to have “groped” on Wednesday in the Carlton private members’ club.

The incident led to Mr Pincher resigning as Deputy Chief Whip on Thursday night.

The man said there was “nothing untoward” at first, but later, “I had my drink in my hand and he then went down and grabbed my a**e.

“And then slowly … moved his hand down the front of my groin.

“I froze a little bit and it ended after about two or three seconds. It was a very bizarre thing.”

The Mirror has contacted Mr Pincher and his lawyers for comment about the new remarks. He has previously not denied claims he “groped” two men on Wednesday at the Carlton club.

Multiple reports today suggested Mr Pincher left at 1am on Thursday from the Carlton Club in central London, where he has already admitted he had drunk “far too much” and “embarrassed” himself.

In a statement yesterday, Mr Pincher said: “I respect the Prime Minister’s decision to suspend the whip whilst an inquiry is underway, and I will cooperate fully with it.

“As I told the Prime Minister, I drank far too much on Wednesday night, embarrassing myself and others and I am truly sorry for the upset I caused.

“The stresses of the last few days, coming on top of those over the last several months, have made me accept that I will benefit from professional medical support.

“I am in the process of seeking that now, and I hope to be able to return to my constituency duties as soon as possible.”

BORIS Johnson is under increased fire for hiring shamed Tory MP Chris Pincher — despite joking about his reputation.

The PM was claimed to have cracked gags about the MP and quipped that all the “sex pests” in the party backed him when he ran for leader.

It comes after No 10 said the PM was not aware of “unsubstantiated allegations” before hiring Pincher as Deputy Chief Whip in February.

But insiders claim that Mr Johnson told aides in 2020: “He’s handsy, that’s a problem. Pincher by name, pincher by nature.”

Ex-aide Dominic Cummings claimed the PM said the same to him.

Downing Street yesterday refused to be drawn on the “private conversations” held by the PM.

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It came as shamed Pincher — now sitting as an independent MP — faced calls to resign after more allegations emerged.

Tory councillors in his Tamworth constituency have called for him to do the “honourable thing”.

And Labour’s Anneliese Dodds has written to the PM asking what No10 knew about the allegations before Pincher’s appointment as whip.

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