Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE MINISTER FOR LATRINES
Tory Mellor: Green not fit for Cabinet
A FORMER Tory Cabinet Minister said under-fire Damian Green should have quit immediately and would have been Minister for Toilets under Margaret Thatcher.
Ex-national Heritage Secretary David Mellor launched a blistering attack on Theresa May’s number two, who faces calls to step aside while an inquiry into his conduct continues.
Mr Mellor, who resigned in 1992 after a sleaze scandal, claimed First Secretary of State Mr Green would not be missed for a “millisecond”.
The de-facto deputy PM has been accused of having pornography on a computer in his Commons office in 2008.
He is also alleged to have sent an inappropriate text message to a Conservative activist 30 years his junior – and touched her knee.
Mr Green, who is the subject of a Cabinet Office inquiry, has strongly denied downloading or watching porn on the computer, or behaving inappropriately towards Kate Maltby.
Mr Mellor said yesterday: “Damian Green should have said, ‘I will resign to clear my name’ and he would have had lots of sympathy.”
He went on: “Damian Green is the sort of guy who, under Mrs Thatcher, would have been the Minister of State for Latrines and would have lived in total obscurity. Instead of which, he becomes Deputy Prime Minister, he rises without trace.
“He would not be missed for a millisecond if he left government. It would be better if he did.”