BOURNEMOUTH MP Tobias Ellwood said “the Prime Minister and No 10 do need to respond” to the letter written by Lord McDonald who said Downing Street are still not telling the truth about Chris Pincher.

Lord McDonald of Salford has submitted a formal complaint to Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Mr Ellwood told Sky News: “The Prime Minister and No 10 do need to respond to Lord McDonald’s letter.”

He added: “They need to understand the scale and the gravity of the story and, indeed, get ahead of it. It is dominating the news day-after-day-after-day.”

He said junior ministers and ministers are being sent out with the lines to tell the media which “only lasts a number of hours until it has to be corrected”.

Mr Ellwood also told the programme: “This is just overshadowing the efforts to try and focus on the bigger issues, which I think is where the country would actually like us to focus. This is very, very serious indeed, but the Government strategy right now in dealing with this particular issue is not wise at all.”

He said “the whips’ office itself needs a massive overhaul” and the “massive reset” which was promised after the vote of confidence against Prime minister Boris Johnson has yet to happen.

He added this means that “I’’m afraid we are stuck dealing with the firefighting of the day rather than looking at the big picture”.

Mr Ellwood was speaking before Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis told MPs in the House of Commons he had made some initial enquiries and said he understood in October 2019 officials “raised concerns” with the permanent secretary concerning Mr Pincher.

Mr Johnson was informed Mr Pincher was the subject of a complaint about his conduct in 2019 when he was a minister at the Foreign Office, Downing Street has said.

Downing Street had previously claimed Mr Johnson was not aware of any “specific allegations” against Mr Pincher when he made him deputy chief whip last February.

However, on Tuesday, July 5, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I can confirm that he was briefed on that about the complaint relating to Mr Pincher in the Foreign Office which was resolved.

“I don’t believe that that was a formal meeting to inform him of it but I am still seeking to establish the details.”

He added that he thought the Prime Minister was told by “someone in the Cabinet Office” and that had been “a number of months” after the complaint was investigated.