Chris Pincher said he was seeking professional help after claims he drunkenly groped two men.
The former deputy chief whip, who resigned following the allegations, said he respected the prime minister’s decision to suspend the whip and would “cooperate fully” with an investigation into his conduct.
He said he was “truly sorry” and hoped to return to his duties as an MP “as soon as possible”.
In a statement, the Tamworth MP said: “I respect the Prime Minister’s decision to suspend the whip pending an investigation and I will co-operate fully. As I told the Prime Minister, I had too much to drink on Wednesday night, embarrassing myself and others, and I am truly sorry for the annoyance I caused.
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He added: “The stress of the last few days, on top of that of the last few months, has made me accept that I would benefit from professional medical attention. I am now in the process of looking into this and hope to be able to return to my constituency duties as soon as possible.
Pincher was suspended as a Conservative MP and faces an investigation by the parliamentary complaints watchdog following the allegations.
His comments came as the Conservative Party and Boris Johnson faced mounting pressure on Saturday over the scandal.
Shadow Armed Forces Secretary Luke Pollard said Parliament was “not a safe place to work” and called for higher standards in politics.
“We need a wholesale change to this because, I’m afraid, Parliament is not a safe place to work as it should be for so many of the young people who work there,” the Labor MP told Sky News.
“We need to set higher standards than we have at the moment but I’m afraid the culture is set from the top and the Prime Minister has been so clear that the standards in public life – decency, integrity, honesty – are not being enforced .”
Meanwhile, the prime minister has faced questions about why he delayed suspending Pincher’s term.
Pincher stepped down from his post in the Conservative cabinet, where his responsibilities included maintaining party discipline, on Thursday.
Following a formal complaint lodged against him with Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievances Scheme (ICGS), he will now have to sit as an independent outside the caucus.
The prime minister’s official spokesman denied on Friday that Johnson was aware of “specific” allegations before appointing Pincher as deputy chief whip in February. However, a No 10 source said Johnson was “probably” aware of rumors about his sexual behaviour.
Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former top aide, accused the prime minister of “lying again” and claimed Johnson had called the MP “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” long before he appointed him.
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen suggested that Downing Street was guilty of “double standards” as a result of its approach to dealing with the Pincher scandal compared to that of Neil Parish, who resigned as an MP after admitting to viewing pornography in The House of Commons.
The North West Leicestershire MP told BBC Newsnight: “Neil was a very independent-minded backbench Conservative; he never sought patronage and held ministers accountable.
“Chris Pincher comes across as a staunch loyalist and I think for most people that will be the reason for the difference in their attitude. And that’s not acceptable either.”
Caroline Noakes and Karen Bradley, two senior Tory MPs who chair House of Commons select committees, called on Johnson to introduce a “zero tolerance” policy for sexual misconduct claims.
In his resignation letter, Pincher apologized for his behavior at the Carlton Club in Piccadilly, London. “I drank too much last night. I have embarrassed myself and other people, which is the last thing I want to do, and for that I apologize to you and to those affected,” he said.
The scandal marks the sixth involving alleged sexual abuse during the government of Boris Johnson, who has faced scrutiny over how much he knew about the allegations against Pincher, who also resigned from the whips’ office in 2017 after allegations he behaved such as “Harvey Weinstein’s pound shop”. A party investigation cleared him of wrongdoing.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said the Prime Minister had been “dragged kicking and screaming” to take action. The scandal, she added, was “further evidence of his appalling judgment.”
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