First Secretary of State Damian Green Resigns
- Zachary Ntim
- Dec 20, 2017
- 2 min read
Secretary of State, Damian Green, was forced to resigned amid the conclusion of an investigation into sexual misconduct.
Green, who is MP for Ashford in Kent, and one of Theresa May’s closest allies, was appointed as the UK’s first secretary of State, in June. He quit this evening stating he made “"inaccurate and misleading" comments about his knowledge of claims pornography had been found on a computer in his Commons office in 2008.
In short, he publicly denied any prior knowledge of the porn found on his parliamentary computer, which was a lie. In his resignation letter he said:
“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.”
Damian Green has been Theresa May’s sort of political confidant. The pair have been close friends since university, and in his role as secretary of state, he acted as May’s deputy.
The police have been investigating Green over two counts of misconduct, the most serious; making unwanted advances to journalist, Katy Maltby, in 2015. Mr Green denies all allegations. The family of Katy released a statement this evening addressing Green’s sacking:
“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 that they found out daughter to be a plausible witness.”
This could be May’s biggest blow yet. Green who in November, stood in for May at PMQ’s played a pivotal role in managing Brexit. Not only in Brussels, but back in Westminster where both Cabinet ministers and backbenchers are fond of disobeying May.
A wholly unwelcome, but maybe unsurprising Christmas present for the PM who is now out of office until next year. We do not expect Green's successor until then.
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