UK defense minister resigns over sex scandal

British defense minister Michael Fallon quit on Wednesday, the first resignation in a growing sexual harassment scandal that prompted calls for a wholesale change in the “locker room” culture in parliament.

Members of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party said the first high- profile resignation in the scandal showed it was time for reform at the 800- year- old parliament, where power is concentrated in lawmakers’ hands and wielded, often unchecked, over junior aides.

The loss of Fallon, described by Conservative sources as a political “Rottweiler,” leaves May with a hole in her cabinet, already at odds on everything from Britain’s departure from the European Union to the government’s austerity agenda.

Weakened after losing her party’s majority in a June election, May will want to move swiftly to appoint a replacement with as little disruption as possible.

In his letter of resignation to May, Fallon, who had apologized earlier this week for repeatedly touching a radio presenter’s knee in 2002, said there had been many allegations about lawmakers, including “some about my previous conduct.”

“Many of these have been false but I accept that in the past I have fallen below the high standards that we require of the armed forces that I have the honor to represent,” he said, offering no detail on the nature of any other allegations.