Downing Street has been accused of “telling the truth and crossing your fingers at the same time” over its handling of the Chris Pincher scandal.

Lord McDonald, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, made the accusation this morning and urged No 10 to “come clean” as he claimed it had made untruthful statements about the affair.

Downing Street yesterday confirmed that Boris Johnson knew of concerns about Mr Pincher’s conduct when he made him deputy chief whip in February this year.

However, No 10 said the claims the PM knew about were “either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint”.

Dominic Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister, today confirmed that Mr Pincher was the subject of a complaint about alleged “inappropriate behaviour” when he was a Foreign Office minister in 2019.

Lord McDonald said Mr Johnson was briefed “in person” about that investigation and “allegations were 'resolved' only in the sense that the investigation was completed; Mr Pincher was not exonerated".

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10:34 AMDominic Raab 'not aware' PM was briefed on Pincher complaint

Dominic Raab said he was "not aware" of Boris Johnson having been "briefed directly” about a complaint made against Chris Pincher when he was a foreign office minister in 2019.

Lord McDonald, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, said this morning that Mr Johnson was briefed "in person". 

But Mr Raab told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “In relation to what happened in 2019, I’m not aware that the Prime Minister was briefed directly about it."