Toppolitiker anklagas för sexuellt ofredande – avgår

Christopher John Pincher (born 24 September 1969) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household in 2022, and previously from 2018 to 2019. He previously served as Minister of State for Europe and the Americas and Minister of State for Housing and has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamworth since 2010. Pincher was first elected as MP for Tamworth at the 2010 general election, when he gained the seat from the Labour Party. He first contested the seat in 2005. He served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond from 2015 to 2016.Pincher served as an Assistant Whip and Comptroller of the Household in 2017, before he resigned after being implicated in the 2017 Westminster sexual misconduct allegations. Two months later, in January 2018, he was appointed by Theresa May as Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household. After Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019, Pincher was appointed Minister of State for Europe and the Americas. In the February 2020 reshuffle, he was appointed Minister of State for Housing. In February 2022, he returned to his former role of Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household, but resigned in June of that year following allegations than he drunkenly groped two men.

Whip (övers. "Piska"), anglosaxisk beteckning för den partifunktionär som inom sitt parlamentariska parti (det vill säga, i sin partigrupp) övervakar partidisciplinens upprätthållande, i synnerhet närvaro vid voteringar och att ledamöterna röstar enligt partilinjen. Man pratar ibland om majority whip och minority whip beroende på om respektive partigrupp har majoritet eller inte i den aktuella kammaren. Ungefärlig motsvarighet i Sverige är riksdagens gruppledare. Beteckningen översätts oftast till ’inpiskare’ på svenska. Chief whip översätts till ’chefsinpiskare’. I tyska parlamentariska församlingar motsvaras whip av Parlamentarischer Geschäftsführer och chief whip av Erster Parlamentarischer Geschäftsführer. I USA har båda husen i kongressen, representanthuset och senaten en majoritet och minoritetspiska. Medan medlemmar i kongressen ofta röstar längs partilinjer, är piskans inflytande svagare än i det brittiska systemet. Amerikanska politiker har i allmänhet betydligt mer frihet att skilja sig från partiets linje och rösta enligt sin egen eller deras valkrets samvete.