Kate Maltby: I told No10 aide about Green’s behaviour
Journalist claims she was told that PM was aware of her former deputy’s ‘pattern of behaviour’
THE woman at the centre of the Damian Green scandal today alleges that Theresa May was aware of a “pattern of behaviour” involving the MP before she made him her effective deputy.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Kate Maltby says she told a 10 Downing Street aide in September 2016 that Mr Green had touched her leg and sent a suggestive text message.
She says the aide told her that her experience was part of a pattern and added “the Prime Minister knows”. Nine months later, Mr Green, who at the time was the work and pensions secretary, was appointed first secretary of state by Mrs May.
Miss Maltby’s allegation was passed to the Whitehall investigation into Mr Green by Sue Gray, the head of propriety and ethics at the Cabinet Office.
The inquiry did not present any conclusions about whether Mr Green had acted inappropriately but described Miss Maltby as a “plausible” witness.
No10 sources denied that the aide had made the admission to Miss Maltby or that Mrs May was told about Mr Green. The source declined to say if the aide was interviewed as part of Ms Gray’s inquiry.
Mr Green was asked to resign by Mrs May after the report found that he had misled the public about pornography found on his Commons computer.
In her first interview since the inquiry began seven weeks ago, Miss Maltby accuses Mrs May of failing to take action over the Green affair.
She said: “I am a great admirer of her work with the Modern Slavery Act. She is very often a woman who seems to want to do the right thing and she often seems to be a feminist and wants to be a feminist. But when it comes to her own friends – and this is a pattern across society – [it is] ‘I support women speaking out until it is my own best friend’.
“The Prime Minister could have acted decisively when this scandal broke and made changes in Westminster, to demonstrate in her treatment of me that whistle-blowers would be treated with respect – but she did not do so,” she claims.
Miss Maltby says Mrs May’s lack of support for her meant she would now advise other women to stay silent rather than go public with their claims.
She says: “I told my story ... as part of a movement to encourage other women to expose everyday sexual harassment. I only ever wanted to make Westminster a place where people feel safer speaking out.
“However, with my hand on heart, unless the culture of Westminster drastically changes, I could not honestly tell any other women to put herself through what Theresa May’s Conservative Party has put me through”
The financial and physical effects on Miss Maltby have been considerable, particularly after Mr Green stood in for Mrs May at Prime Minister’s Questions.
She says: “I had been holding up but the shock of seeing Damian Green doing PMQS led to me seeking medical treatment for a stress-related physical condition on that day.”
She found herself unable to be in large crowds or go to places where she might have to speak with strangers. Miss Maltby, 31, a practising Anglican, took shelter in New College, Oxford, attending evensong on most days.
She says: “I would never, never have told my story about Damian Green if I did not believe I was exposing a pattern of behaviour of which I thought the Prime Minister was personally aware.”
Miss Maltby has been unable to work during the inquiry. “I knew when I went into this that it would damage my career. People in the Conservative Party warned me. I have lost three major commissions because I was unable to work.”
Miss Maltby, a member of the Tory party, says she felt Conservative Central Office abandoned her when the scandal broke, adding: “I am deeply disappointed by how little support I have had from the party. There has been no institutional support.”
Miss Maltby said a few days before she went public that she asked a senior Tory MP if women should come forward about sexual harassment in Westminster, without discussing her own case. The MP – who The Telegraph is not naming – told her she hoped “women will come forward because the place needs a clean-out and I will support women who come forward”. But the MP did nothing to help her.
Miss Maltby adds: “I am personally very angry with the police because by going public ... they have hijacked a public conversation about sexual harassment and turned it into a conversation about whether a man lied about porn at work.”
Asked to comment on Miss Maltby’s claims about the treatment of women who whistleblow, the No 10 source added: “The Prime Minister has made it clear that everyone should be able to work in politics without fear or harassment – that is why she has brought forward a new code of conduct for the Conservative Party, and set up a crossparty working group to make recommendations about the Houses of Parliament.”
Asked about No 10’s denial of the conversation with the aide, Miss Maltby added: “It is my personal belief that this individual, who was a trusted friend, usually strives to do to the right thing. It is my belief he was telling me the truth when he told me that my experience was part of a pattern, and that the PM knew. I am not publicly naming the aide because I recognise his boss has put him in a very difficult position. This is not about him, it is about the ... culture of Downing Street.”
In his letter to Mrs May this week, Mr Green said: “I deeply regret the distress caused to Kate Maltby following her article about me and the reaction to it. I do not recognise the events she described in her article, but I clearly made her feel uncomfortable and for this I apologise.”