The United Kingdom (UK) Deputy Prime Minister, Damian Green, has been sacked after an investigation into claims that pornographic material was found on his Commons computer.
The Ashford MP, who is a close friend of Theresa May, was asked to step down from his official job as First Secretary of State for breaching the ministerial code.
In a letter published on Wednesday night, Mrs May revealed a report cleared him of watching or downloading pornography.
But it found he made two “misleading” and “inaccurate” statements about knowledge of the claims.
Mrs May wrote: “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 high standards which the public demands of Ministers of the Crown.
“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.”
The letter also said Mr Green, 61, “recognised” he made a female journalist “feel uncomfortable”.
Freelance columnist and daughter of a family friend Kate Maltby, 31, claimed in October she “felt a fleeting hand against my knee” during a meeting in a bar.
Mr Green said he “deeply regretted” the “distress” caused to Ms Maltby and acknowledged that he “clearly made her feel uncomfortable – and for this I apologise”.
In his letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Green maintained he never viewed or downloaded porn on his Commons computer.
But he wrote: “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.” – Sky News.
