Deputy PM: I did not have extreme porn on office PC
It’s a political smear from ex-policeman, says May ally
THERESA May’s deputy was locked in a furious row with a former police chief last night over claims ‘extreme pornography’ was found on one of his office computers.
Damian Green denied the claim and accused ex-Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Bob Quick of a ‘disreputable political smear’ after the allegation leaked out.
Mr Quick will today give evidence to a Cabinet Office inquiry investigating an accusation of sexual harassment against Mr Green.
Last night the former police chief denied being the source of the leak which led to claims yesterday that porn was found on a computer in Mr Green’s parliamentary office during a raid ordered by Mr Quick in 2008.
The row came as Home Secretary Amber Rudd insisted the Government would survive if Mr Green – the Prime Minister’s closest political ally – was forced to resign.
Asked if such a departure could tear the Government apart, Miss Rudd told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘Absolutely not. I think it is something that will take place in terms of clearing out Westminster of that sort of behaviour, and I think that Westminster afterwards, including the Government, will be better for it.’
She added: ‘I know the Cabinet Office is going to be looking at this tomorrow along with the wider inquiry about Damian, and I do think we shouldn’t rush to allege anything until that inquiry has taken place.’
In a statement yesterday, Mr Green said the porn claim was ‘completely untrue’ and described Mr Quick as a ‘tainted and untrustworthy source’.
The First Secretary of State called Mr Quick, ex-head of counter-terrorism at Scotland Yard, ‘discredited’, and said he had ‘tried to cause me political damage by leaking false information ’.
Mr Green, who did not accompany his wife Alicia to church yesterday, claimed Mr Quick harboured ‘deep resentment’ against the Tories over the backlash that followed the botched raid.
He added: ‘The police have never suggested to me that improper material was found on my parliamentary computer, nor did I have a “private” computer, as has been claimed. The allegations about the material and computer, now nine years old, are false, disreputable political smears from a discredited police officer acting in flagrant breach of his duty to keep the details of police investigations confidential, and amount to little more than an unscrupulous character assassination.’
Miss Rudd confirmed the Cabinet Office inquiry would be widened to look at the porn allegations.
Mr Green is facing investigation over claims he made unwanted advances towards Tory activist and journalist Kate Maltby, includ- ing touching her knee in a pub and sending her suggestive text messages. He has denied the claims. Allies say other messages show the pair enjoyed a friendly relationship after the alleged incident in 2015.
One friend claimed Miss Maltby may have mistaken the brush of a tablecloth for his hand.
Miss Maltby mocked the idea, saying, ‘women know the difference between a hand and a tablecloth’ – and said a number of people were willing to come forward and tell the inquiry she had complained to them of Mr Green’s ‘sexual advances’.
Tory MP Heidi Allen joined exminister Anna Soubry in calling for Mr Green to step aside from his job while claims against him are investigated. ‘In the sort of companies I used to work in, that would be completely normal,’ Miss Allen told ITV’s Peston on Sunday.
The raid of Mr Green’s office in 2008 was conducted without a search warrant as part of an investigation into the leak of secret Home Office documents. An official review of the raid and his arrest found it was ‘not proportionate’.
Mr Quick resigned in 2009 after he was photographed entering Downing Street carrying a secret briefing note carrying details of a major anti-terrorist operation.
Last night, he said the Sunday Times published ‘the partial content of a confidential draft witness statement I prepared … for the Leveson Inquiry, six years ago’.
He added: ‘I take the allegations that I played any part in the disclosure of this document to the Sunday Times extremely seriously and will be considering legal action against those responsible.’
‘Character assassination’