Now Green’s tablecloth defence is off the menu

DAMIAN Green’s allies launched a bizarre defence against claims that he touched a woman’s knee – by saying she may have mistaken a tablecloth for his hand.

The First Secretary of State has been accused of making inappropriate advances towards the daughter of a family friend.

Kate Maltby, 31, alleged that Mr Green, 1, ‘put a fleeting hand against my knee’ during a meeting in a bar.

But one friend of Mr Green told The Daily Telegraph: ‘She claims it is fleeting touch [of her knee]. But that could have been a tablecloth.’

Yesterday, however, the Evening Standard said that there were no tablecloths, only napkins, at the Archduke in Waterloo – the bar near Westminster where he is believed to have met Miss Maltby.

Last night a source close to Mr Green said he had nothing to do with the tablecloth claim. And earlier this week, he said: ‘It is absolutely and completely untrue that I’ve ever made any sexual advances on Miss Maltby.’