Who is Damian Green, why was sacked by Theresa May, what were the porn allegations and who’s his wife?
DAMIAN Green MP was the First Secretary of State until he was "asked to resign" by the Prime Minister.
While he was Theresa May's right-hand man, Green became embroiled in a MPs sex scandal when allegations were made against him by a female Tory activist — here's what we know.
Who is Damian Green?
Damian Green, 62, is known as Tory MP for Ashford. He was also the First Secretary of State — effectively the deputy Prime Minister.
A former journalist, he was born in Barry, Wales in January 1956 and studied PPE at Balliol College, Oxford.
He entered parliament in the 1997 election and served in the Coalition, Cameron's government and under Theresa May until his departure.
Mr Green has been viewed in Westminster as a fervent ally of Mrs May, and her most trusted confidant in the cabinet.
What was he accused of doing by writer and Tory activist Kate Maltby?
Kate Maltby, an academic, writer and Tory activist accused Damian Green of touching her leg and making a pass at her — which he denied.
In an article in The Times on November 1, Maltby claimed Green put "a fleeting hand against my knee - so brief, it was almost deniable".
She added that they had discussed her career - as well as sexual affairs in Parliament - and she claimed Mr Green had told her that his wife was "very understanding".
It left her so "angry" that she ignored him for a year.
But after appearing in a corset in a newspaper to accompany an article about the history of the clothing, Ms Maltby received a text from Mr Green, who wrote: "Long time no see. But having admired you in a corset in my favourite tabloid I feel impelled to ask if you are free for a drink anytime?"
She said she ignored the message and only contacted Mr Green after he became a minister in Mrs May's new Cabinet in July last year, congratulating him on his appointment.
What were the porn allegations against Damian Green?
The 62-year-old was also rocked by a fresh scandal after it was claimed police found "extreme" pornography on his computer when they raided his Parliamentary office.
Met police officers say they unveiled the material when Green's office was raided during an enquiry into leaks.
The alleged material was unveiled in a draft statement to the Leveson Inquiry about the 2008 raids, but was never read out during proceedings.
Green angrily denied the accusations initially.
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.
"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."
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When did Theresa May sack Damian Green?
On Wednesday December 20 2017, Theresa May sacked Damian Green after he was found to have lied over the porn found on an office computer.
The First Secretary of State was “asked to resign” by the Prime Minister - a friend of thirty years.
An official probe into the top Tory’s behaviour found that he gave “inaccurate and misleading” comments to the public when he claimed it was untrue that porn had been found on his Commons.
But the investigation revealed that Mr Green HAD been told - a fact he told the PM on December 20 that he now accepted.
The inquiry, lead by Whitehall sleaze-buster Sue Gray, found "the Metropolitan Police Service had previously informed him of the existence of this material.”
On November 18 Mr Green changed his story again to say he never viewed pornography on the computers removed from his office.
On December 1, Mr Green’s spokesman insisted he had never changed his story, saying: “From the outset he has been very clear that he never watched or downloaded pornography on the computers seized from his office.”
But in his resignation statement (below) Mr Green admitted he made misleading statements in his response to the porn allegations.
Ms May, who has been friends with Mr Green since their days at Oxford University together, said she was "extremely sad" he was going but said his "inaccurate and misleading" press statements in response to the porn claims had breached the rulebook for senior politicians.
She wrote in her letter: "It is therefore with deep regret, and enduring gratitude for the contribution you have made over many years, that I asked you to resign from the Government and have accepted your resignation."
Mrs Maltby claimed on December 21 that a senior Downing Street aide told her they were aware of Mr Green's "pattern of behaviour".
Who is his wife Alicia Collinson?
Green's wife Alicia Collinson is a family law barrister who works at a chambers in London.
The couple married in 1988 and have two daughters together.
They met at Oxford University where they were friends of Theresa May and her husband Philip.
Damian Green's resignation letter in full
DEAR PRIME MINISTER,
I regret that I've been asked to resign from the government following breaches of the Ministerial Code, for which I apologise.
It has been a privilege to serve in your government both as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and as First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office.
It was also a great pleasure to work with you in the Home Office both as Minister for Immigration and as Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims. Your years as Home Secretary were a model of reforming institutions in the interests of the wider public.
I share and support your vision of a country that works for everyone, using Conservative policies to help those who have for too long been disadvantaged.
In particular I am pleased to have published the Race Disparity Audit and to have started the government on a road to a reformed social care system.
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 statements 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.
The unfounded and deeply hurtful allegations that were being levelled at me were distressing both to me and my family and it is right that these are being investigated by the Metropolitan Police's professional standards department.
I am grateful that the Cabinet Secretary has concluded that my conduct as a minister has generally been both professional and proper. 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.
Finally I would like to give heartfelt thanks to my Parliamentary colleagues and my Ashford constituents for the huge support they have shown me in recent weeks.
I will continue to argue for the modernising conservatism I have always believed in.
Yours,
DAMIAN