Blame May for Pincher saga, says victim
IF BORIS Johnson had listened to ex-Olympic rower Alex Story, he would almost certainly not have had to stand down as Prime Minister.
Former Conservative parliamentary candidate Mr Story revealed the sex-pest antics of ex-Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher, whose misconduct last month triggered Mr Johnson’s downfall, way back in 2017.
Even though Pincher resigned as a whip, he was cleared by a Tory inquiry, reinstated by Theresa May and then promoted by Johnson.
Mr Johnson was forced to resign after it emerged he had failed to tell the truth about being told Pincher was disciplined for a separate piece of misbehaviour as a Foreign Office Minister in 2019.
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, financier Mr Story, 47, a member of the British rowing team in the 1996 Olympics, says that if Mr Johnson had not ‘lied’ about Pincher he would be staying in No 10.
However, Mr Story believes the main culprit for the scandal is Theresa May, for failing to act decisively five years ago when he first spoke of his ordeal with Pincher. He describes the Tory inquiry into the incident as ‘a complete joke’, claiming they never spoke to him.
‘Mrs May must not be allowed to get away with this lightly. She is walking around holier than thou – but she brought Pincher back.’
In 2017 this newspaper reported that Mr Story had accused Pincher of behaving like a ‘pound shop Harvey
Weinstein’ after persuading him to come back to his London home after they met while canvassing at Tory HQ in Westminster in 2001.
Mr Story, who was 26 at the time and is now married with four children, said Pincher ‘started untucking the back of my shirt, massaging my neck and whispered, “You’ll go far in the Conservative Party”.’
Pincher then disappeared into another room and ‘returned in a bathrobe like a pound shop Harvey Weinstein, with his chest and belly sticking out’. Mr Story then left.
Tamworth MP Pincher said at the time: ‘If Mr Story has ever felt offended by anything I said then I can only apologise to him.’
Today, Mr Story says the whole Tory party must shoulder responsibility for Pincher being allowed to continue his behaviour. ‘In effect, Pincher served under three Prime Ministers.’ Pincher was an MP under David Cameron, a whip under May and a Minister under Johnson.
Nor is Labour totally blameless, he argues, claiming parties conspire to cover up each other’s sex scandals.
‘There is a tacit pact, “You don’t talk about our sex pests and we won’t talk about yours.”
‘The so-called inquiry the Tories held into Pincher is what political parties do. They just hope another story will come along to distract people so they can keep their buddies in place.’
Mr Story even has some sympathy for Mr Johnson: ‘I know he is flawed but there was an orchestrated campaign to get him out. His critics are morally bankrupt themselves.’