Independent Expert Panel dismisses appeal by Christopher Pincher MP
4 September 2023
The Independent Expert Panel (IEP) has published its decision dismissing an appeal by Christopher Pincher MP against the sanction recommend by the House of Commons Committee on Standards for breaches of the Code of Conduct for MPs.
The Committee found in a report published on 6 July, that Mr Pincher had ‘caused significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House as a whole, and its Members’ because he had ‘“groped” two people in the bar following an event at the Carlton Club on the evening of 29 June 2022.’ It recommended that he be suspended from the House for eight weeks.
Mr Pincher appealed the Committee’s recommended sanction arguing it was disproportionate. He did not appeal the decision that he had breached the Code of Conduct.
An IEP sub-panel, chaired by retired appeal court judge Rt Hon Sir Stephen Irwin, dismissed the appeal, and upheld the sanction recommended by the Committee on Standards.
The sub-panel’s reasons are set out in the IEP’s report on the case which is available on their website.