Theresa May last night sacked her deputy Damian Green after a sleaze inquiry found he had failed to tell the truth about pornography found on his computer.
The Cabinet Office investigation said he had issued two ‘inaccurate and misleading’ statements, denying he knew about the discovery made in a botched police raid on his Commons office in 2008.
Sir Alex Allen, Theresa May’s adviser on ministerial interests, said the lack of candour amounted to two breaches of the ministerial code. This left the PM with no choice but to ask her friend of 30 years and deputy to resign.
Mr Green, 61, who was first secretary of state, became the third Cabinet minister to resign in two months, following the exits of Sir Michael Fallon and Priti Patel.
His fall from high office is the culmination of a decade-long feud with former Met Police chief Bob Quick, who revealed that ‘extreme’ porn was found on Mr Green’s Commons computer during a raid on his parliamentary office back in 2008.
A friend of Mr Green said the police had ‘got their man after a nine-year vendetta’.
His departure is a bitter blow to the PM, who relied heavily on her old university friend. In a letter to him last night, she said she was ‘extremely sad’ about his departure.
Mrs. May also rounded on the police over the role played by former detectives. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has also condemned the conduct of the ex-officers, which is now the subject of an inquiry.
Mr. Quick is said to have never forgiven those he believes sabotaged his high-flying career following his investigation into Mr. Green nearly a decade ago.
His simmering fury over the circumstances in which he left the police has seen him dubbed ‘Bitter Bob’ by a number of former colleagues.
The inquiry into Mr. Green’s conduct was launched on November 1 following disputed claims by Tory activist Kate Maltby that he had made unwanted advances on her.
The sleaze inquiry said Miss Maltby’s claims were ‘plausible’, but said it was ‘not possible to reach a definitive conclusion on the appropriateness’ of his behaviour.
Miss Maltby last night declined to comment, but her parents, Colin and Victoria Maltby, issued a statement to say they were ‘proud of her’.
They said: ‘We are pleased that the Cabinet Office has concluded its enquiry into the conduct of Damian Green.
‘We are not surprised to find that the inquiry found Mr. Green to have been untruthful as a minister, nor to that they found our daughter to be a plausible witness.’
In his resignation letter last night, Mr Green said he did not recognise Miss Maltby’s account of their meeting in a London pub in 2015, when she claims he touched her knee and made suggestive comments.
But he added: ‘I clearly made her feel uncomfortable and for this I apologise.’ Mrs May said Mr. Green was right to concede this point.
Accusations about computer pornography were made by Mr. Quick, who ordered the raid on Mr. Green’s Commons office.
He was later backed up by another former Scotland Yard detective Neil Lewis, who said he had no doubt that Mr Green himself had downloaded the pornography, which he said ran to ‘thousands’ of images.
The discovery had no relevance to the police inquiry at the time, which was focused on uncovering the source of leaked Home Office material being passed to Mr. Green, who was then shadow immigration minister.
It also had no relevance to the claims made by Miss Maltby. None of the allegations related to Mr. Green’s time as a minister. But his failure to tell the truth about them broke the ministerial code, which requires office holders to be truthful at all times.
When Mr. Quick’s allegations were published last month, Mr Green issued an angry statement, saying: ‘This story is completely untrue and comes from a tainted and untrustworthy source.’
Mr. Green said the police had ‘never suggested to me that improper material was found on my parliamentary computer.’
On November 5, after former police chief Bob Quick claimed pornography had been found on one of Mr. Green’s parliamentary computers, he said: ‘This story is completely untrue and comes from a tainted and untrustworthy source.
‘I’ve been aware for some years that the discredited former assistant commissioner Bob Quick has tried to cause me political damage by leaking false information about the raid on my parliamentary office. It is well known that Quick, who was forced to apologise for alleging that the Conservative Party was trying to undermine him, harbours deep resentment about his Press treatment during the time of my investigation.
‘More importantly, 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.’ And on November 12, in response to a second story that the Scotland Yard commissioner had been told of the find, Mr. Green said: ‘I reiterate that no allegations about the presence of improper material on my parliamentary computers have ever been put to me or to the parliamentary authorities by the police.
‘I can only assume they are being made now, nine years later, for ulterior motives.’
Mr. Quick arrested Mr. Green, then a shadow immigration minister, and held him for nine hours while his constituency office and home were searched.
The episode sparked a huge inquest at the Commons into whether parliamentary privilege should have protected the material held by an MP.
And just a year later Mr. Quick quit as a policeman after being photographed heading into No10 with a security briefing about an undercover operation.
But after a decade of bad blood between the two men, the controversial office rad has finally ended Mr. Green’s Cabinet career.
Separate allegations Mr. Green behaved inappropriately to a Tory activist Kate Maltby were found unproven, but his actions over the porn claims were considered a breach of the ministerial code.
It makes him the third Cabinet minister to quit from Mrs. May’s top team in just six weeks after ex-Defence Chief Sir Michael Fallon and former international development secretary Priti Patel quit amid scandals.
Mr Quick claimed he found vast amounts of porn on Mr. Green’s office computer during the police raid and took his allegation to the Government’s standards chiefs in early November at the height of the Westminster sleaze scandal.
Green scrambled to deny the claims – insisting in a statement on November 4 that the ‘police have never suggested to me that improper material was found on my parliamentary computer’.
But while he continues to deny claims he viewed inappropriate material on his office computer, he has now admits police did talk to his lawyers about the allegations back in 2008 and again in 2013.
And it is his original statement denying all knowledge of the porn that has been his undoing and forced him to quit from Mrs. May’s cabinet.
In a statement, Mr. Green said: ‘From the outset I have been clear that I did not download or view pornography on my Parliamentary computers.
‘I accept that I should have been clear in my press statement that police lawyers talked to my lawyers in 2008 about the pornography on the computers, and that the police raised it with me in a subsequent phone call in 2013.
‘I apologise that my statements were misleading on this point.’
Mrs May accepted his resignation and wrote: ‘I’m extremely sad to be writing this letter, we have been friends and colleagues throughout our whole political lives.
‘From our early days at university, entering the House of Commons at the same election, and serving alongside each other, both in opposition and in government, I have greatly appreciated your hard work and the contribution you have made to my team.’
But she said she asked her de facto deputy to leave the Cabinet after he accepted that statements he put out denying the allegations on November 4 and 11 ‘were inaccurate and misleading’.
She said this amounted to a breach of the ministerial code.
Mrs. May added: ‘While I can understand the considerable distress caused to you by some of the allegations which have been made in recent weeks, I know that you share my commitment to maintaining the highs standards which the public demand of ministers of the crown.
‘It is therefore with deep regret and enduring attitude for the contribution you have make over many years, that I asked you to resign from the Government and have accepted your resignation.’
It is understood Mrs. May asked Mr Green to resign after summoning him to Downing Street on Wednesday evening, and is not planning to replace him until the new year at the earliest.
His sacking could pile more pressure on the PM following the resignations in recent weeks of Sir Michael, and Ms Patel as international development secretary over undisclosed meetings in Israel.
Miss Maltby last night declined to comment, but her parents, Colin and Victoria Maltby, issued a statement to say they were ‘proud of her’.
They said: ‘We are pleased that the Cabinet Office has concluded its enquiry into the conduct of Damian Green.
‘We are not surprised to find that the inquiry found Mr. Green to have been untruthful as a minister, nor to that they found our daughter to be a plausible witness.
‘We have received many supportive messages from people near and far who appreciate Kate’s courage and the importance of speaking out about the abuse of authority.
‘We join with them in admiring her fortitude and serenity throughout the length of the investigation and despite the attempted campaign in certain sections of the media to denigrate and intimidate her and other witnesses. We are proud of her.
‘We have ourselves known of these incidents since they first occurred and have fully supported Kate in the responsible manner in which she has reported them.’