Technically, British Deputy Prime Minister Damian Green, a close ally of Theresa May's, wasn't fired; he was simply "asked" to step down, which he did. Green, 61, who was first elected to Parliament in 1997 and has served in loads of shadow cabinets and, since 2010, in a series of actual cabinet positions, has been in trouble before. In 2008 his office was raided and he was arrested for leaking classified information-- and gossip. This week's charges were very different though-- breaching the ministerial code. He had been under investigation since June over allegations of "inappropriate conduct."
He was "asked to quit" after he was found to have made "inaccurate and misleading" statements about what he knew about claims pornography was found on a computer in his office in 2008....He denied suggestions that he made unwanted advances to a female journalist, Kate Maltby, in 2015 and viewed pornography on a computer in his Commons office in 2008.An official report by the Cabinet Office found that statements he had made about being unaware pornographic material had been found on his computer were "inaccurate and misleading" and as such fell short of the ministerial code.The report also found that although there were "competing and contradictory accounts of what were private meetings" between himself and Ms Maltby, the investigation found her account "to be plausible."Her parents, Colin and Victoria Maltby, said in a statement they were 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."They praised their 31-year-old daughter for her courage in speaking out about the "abuse of authority."...Mr Green's political future has been in question since journalist and Conservative activist Ms Maltby suggested he had behaved inappropriately towards her in an article last month for the Times.She claimed the minister "fleetingly" touched her knee in a pub in 2015 and in 2016 sent her a "suggestive" text message which left her feeling "awkward, embarrassed and professionally compromised."Mr Green, who is an acquaintance of the journalist's parents, said the claims were "hurtful" and "completely false."But they were referred to the Cabinet Office for investigation by a top civil servant-- who is examining other claims that emerged during a swirl of allegations about harassment and other misconduct at Westminster.The inquiry was subsequently expanded to consider claims that legal pornography was found on a computer removed from Mr Green's office in the House of Commons in 2008.The computer was one of a number of possessions seized by the police during a controversial inquiry into the leaking of official documents by a civil servant to Mr Green, at the time a shadow Home Office minister under David Cameron.
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