Deputy PM Damian Green hit by claims police found ‘extreme porn’ on his computer
Met Police officers say they unveiled the material when Damian Green's office was raided during an enquiry into leaks
THE Deputy Prime Minister is facing a fresh scandal after it was claimed cops found "extreme" porn on his computer.
Met police officers say they unveiled the material when Damian Green's office was raided during an enquiry into leaks.
Mr Green has angrily denied the accusations.
Former Met Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick says he stepped down before he could report the porn to parliamentary authorities.
In 2009 Mr Quick walked into Downing Street with top-secret documents of a major anti-terror operation in north-west England.
The blunder meant a police operation to arrest the suspects had to be brought forward, and he resigned soon after.
The alleged material was unveiled in a draft statement to the Leveson Inquiry about the 2008 raids, but was never read out during proceedings.
Mr Green, who is already being investigated over claims he touched a woman's knee, 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.
"No newspaper has printed this story due to the complete lack of any evidence."
He added: "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.
"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."
Mr Green is already being investigated by Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood after activist Kate Maltby, who is three decades younger than the First Secretary of State, told The Times that Mr Green "fleetingly" touched her knee during a meeting in a Waterloo pub in 2015.
She also claims that a year later he sent her a "suggestive" text message after she was pictured wearing a corset in the newspaper.
Mr Green has instructed libel lawyers over Ms Maltby’s claims, accusing her of lying when she said that he had told her his wife was "very understanding" in matters of Westminster sexual affairs.
He said he considered the woman a family friend, adding it is "completely and absolutely untrue that I've ever made any sexual advances on Ms Maltby".
But there is further pressure on the minister after his Cabinet colleague Sir Michael Fallon resigned in disgrace earlier this week – saying his past conduct had “fallen below the high standards” he asked of troops he presided over as Defence Secretary.
And it has now emerged that Ms Maltby confided in Baroness Kennedy at an Oxford University dinner a year ago about Mr Green, and said his advances had caused her to avoid him.
Mrs May’s spokesman said the PM had made clear that she supports the “very courageous” women who had spoken up since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke.
They said: “It’s important that we have a climate in Westminster where people are able to make complaints and that those complaints are taken seriously.”
The scandal has also spread to Labour, after one of their MPs Kelvin Hopkins was suspended while an investigation was held into claims he behaved inappropriately towards a young activist.
And now Scottish childcare minister Mark McDonald has resigned over allegations about his private life.
The MSP for Aberdeen Donside apologised "unreservedly to anyone I have upset or who might have found my behaviour inappropriate".
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