Sex scandal will ‘clear out’ ministers
Rudd warns of ‘watershed’ moment as inquiry into Green begins and whip refers himself to police
MORE ministers are likely to be sacked over the Westminster sexual harassment scandal, Amber Rudd warned yesterday, as it emerged that new victims may be preparing to come forward with claims about Damian Green. The Home Secretary said that Westminster was at a “watershed moment” and that she expected to see a “clearing out” of MPS and government ministers.
Last night the scandal took another turn when Chris Pincher, a government whip, referred himself to the police and to his party’s disciplinary panel over claims that he had propositioned a former Olympic rower while wearing a bathrobe.
Theresa May, the Prime Minister, will today meet her fellow party leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Sir Vince Cable, as well as John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, to try to defuse the crisis and set up formal structures to protect both men and women in Parliament.
In remarks to today’s CBI conference, Mrs May will say that “now is the time to act decisively – without fear or favour – to guarantee a safe and respectful working environment for everyone in the future”.
Mrs May will say she wants to ensure that “people’s careers cannot be damaged by unfounded rumours circulated anonymously online”. The Cabinet Office will today begin a formal investigation into Mr Green, the First Secretary of State, amid reports that more women are preparing to come forward.
The inquiry into Mr Green was triggered after Kate Maltby, a writer three decades younger than Mr Green, said he “fleetingly” touched her knee during a meeting in a pub in 2015, and a year later sent her a “suggestive” text message after she was pictured wearing a corset in a newspaper.
Yesterday Ms Maltby claimed that more women were planning to come forward with claims about Mr Green. She wrote in The Sunday Times: “There are others who have offered to give similar evidence in private to a forthcoming Cabinet Office inquiry.”
Ms Maltby declined to respond to requests from The Daily Telegraph about the nature of the new complaints against Mr Green.
Mr Green has strongly denied the claims.
Yesterday the inquiry was widened to include new allegations that “extreme” pornography was discovered on one of Mr Green’s parliamentary computers after a raid by officers from Scotland Yard nine years ago. The claims were made in a leaked memorandum prepared by Bob Quick, a former assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, for the Leveson inquiry.
He said that if similar material had been found on a police officer’s computer it could have resulted in “gross misconduct” charges and dismissal.
Heidi Allen and Anna Soubry, the Tory MPS, urged Mr Green to stand
down while the inquiry takes place. Mr Green denied the pornography was found on his computer and claimed Mr Quick had tried for years “to cause me political damage by leaking false information about the raid on my parliamentary office”.
Ms Rudd made her comments on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday. She said: “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.
“When we are confident that men and women can work in a respectful environment and people who have been on the receiving end of abuse of power can come forward, that will be a positive thing.”
Ms Rudd said she wanted the sanction of sacking MPS to be considered as part of a major overhaul of anti-harassment procedures at Westminster.
She told Sky News: “I think that that is one of the things that I would encourage the review to look at. There needs to be a procedure put in place as soon as possible.”
Asked if the Government would collapse if Mr Green was forced to resign, Ms Rudd said: “Absolutely not.”
Two more Tory MPS were also reported to the party’s disciplinary panel over the weekend.
Dan Poulter, a former Conservative health minister, is accused of putting his hands up the skirts of three fellow female MPS, while Dan Kawczynski, a former adviser to David Cameron, is accused of pressuring a young female researcher to meet a wealthy businessman.
Separately, it was claimed that Sir Michael Fallon, the former defence secretary, made a lunge and tried to kiss a 29-year-old female journalist on the lips after a lunch near Westminster.
Jane Merrick contacted Downing Street about her claims two hours before Sir Michael’s shock resignation last Wednesday. The incident was described as “completely disgusting” by Ms Rudd.