British PM May forces her own deputy to resign after pornography scandal
LONDON, (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May forced her most senior minister, Damian Green, to resign on Wednesday after an internal investigation found that he had made misleading comments about pornography found on computers in his parliamentary office.
The resignation of one of May’s most trusted allies who had helped pacify her deeply divided party, is a blow for May as she navigates the final year of tortuous Brexit negotiations before Britain’s exit from the European Union in March 2019.
Green, who voted to stay in the EU, was appointed as first secretary of state just six months ago in a bid to shore up May’s premiership in the wake of her disastrous bet on a June snap election which lost her party its majority in parliament.
But Green’s future was thrust into doubt when the Sunday Times newspaper reported last month that police in 2008 had found pornography on his office computers in the Houses of Parliament. In response, Green said that the story was untrue.
A review, requested by May and conducted by a senior government official, concluded that Green’s statements which suggested he was not aware that indecent material had been found on the computers, were “inaccurate and misleading.”
The review, a summary of which was distributed by May’s Downing Street office, found that he had breached rules governing the behaviour of ministers.
“I regret that I’ve been asked to resign from the government following breaches of the Ministerial Code, for which I apologise,” Green said in a letter to May, who said she had accepted his resignation with deep regret.
Green, 61, added that he did not download or view pornography on his parliamentary computers. He said that he should have been clearer about his statements after the story broke.