PM ALLY GREEN RESIGNS AS INQUIRY FINDS HE ‘MISLED’ PUBLIC OVER PORNOGRAPHY
BRITAIN’S first secretary of state Damian Green – one of Theresa May’s key allies – was forced to resign last night after a sleaze inquiry found he had failed to tell the truth about pornography found on his computer.
The Cabinet Office investigation said he had issued two ‘inaccurate and misleading’ statements, denying he knew about the discovery made in a botched police raid on his Commons office in 2008. Alex Allen, Theresa May’s adviser on ministerial interests, said the lack of candour amounted to two breaches of the ministerial code. This left the PM with no choice but to ask her friend and deputy to resign.
Mr Green became the third UK cabinet minister to resign in two months, following the exits of Michael Fallon and Priti Patel.
His departure is a bitter blow to the prime minister, who relied on her old university friend. In a letter to Mr Green last night, she said she was ‘extremely sad’ about his departure.
Mrs May also rounded on the police over the role played by former detectives. British Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has also condemned the conduct of the exofficers, which is now the subject of an inquiry.
A friend of Mr Green said the police had ‘got their man after a nine-year vendetta’.
The inquiry into Mr Green’s conduct was launched on November 1 following disputed claims by Tory activist Kate Maltby that he had made unwanted advances on her.
The sleaze inquiry said Ms Maltby’s claims were ‘plausible’, but that it was ‘not possible to reach a definitive conclusion on the appropriateness’ of his behaviour. In his resignation letter last night, Mr Green said he did not recognise Ms Maltby’s account of their meeting in a London pub in 2015, when she claims he touched her knee and made suggestive comments.
But the former minister added: ‘I clearly made her feel uncomfortable and for this I apologise.’ Mrs May said Mr Green was right to concede this point.
His departure robs Mrs May of her closest political ally. British home secretary Amber Rudd has been tipped as a possible replacement as first secretary of state, but government sources last night indicated that a reshuffle could be postponed until the new year. Although Mr Green does not run a ministry, he was a central figure, heading a number of cabinet committees and being a member of Mrs May’s inner Brexit ‘War Cabinet’.
Mr Green was also a leading Remainer and his departure will tip the balance in the cabinet in favour of the Brexiteers.