The Whitehall inquiry into First Secretary of State Damian Green has been widened to look at allegations that pornographic material was found on one of his parliamentary computers, Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said.
Mr Green, who is effectively Prime Minister Theresa May’s deputy, has strongly denied the claims and called them a political smear.
The Sunday Times reported that a statement prepared by ex-Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Bob Quick alleged the material was discovered by officers searching Mr Green’s Commons office following a spate of leaks of Home Office information in 2008.
Mr Quick said that he had not disclosed the allegations to the newspaper.
Mr Green is already the subject of an inquiry by the Cabinet Office’s Sue Gray after a woman alleged that he made inappropriate advances to her, claims he strenuously denies.
Ms Rudd told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: “I know that the Cabinet Office is going to be looking at this tomorrow along with the wider inquiry about Damian, and I do think that we shouldn’t rush to allege anything until that inquiry has taken place.”
Asked if the Government would collapse if Mr Green was forced to resign, the Home Secretary said: “Absolutely not.”
Amber Rudd said the Cabinet Office would look into the allegations (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
Mr Quick said: “This morning the Sunday Times has published a story disclosing the partial content of a confidential draft witness statement that I prepared with my lawyers, in consultation with the Metropolitan Police, for the Leveson Inquiry, six years ago.
“It is now being alleged in the media that I am responsible for disclosing this draft statement. I categorically deny disclosing any part of this draft statement to the Sunday Times.
“I take the allegations that I played any part in the disclosure of this document to the Sunday Times extremely seriously and will be considering legal action against those responsible.
“I have been in contact with Sue Gray at the Cabinet Office in relation to her investigation and I will be co-operating fully with that investigation.”
Tory MP Heidi Allen joined fellow Conservative Anna Soubry in urging Mr Green to stand down while the inquiry takes place.
She told ITV’s Peston on Sunday: “In … the sort of companies I used to work in, that would be completely normal. If you’re innocent and you have nothing to worry about, then let the process take its natural course, and the right will come out in the end.”
Mr Quick, who headed the leak investigation, said that officers reported finding “extreme porn” on a parliamentary computer from Mr Green’s office, according to the newspaper.
But Mr Green 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.
“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 Quick resigned his post with the Metropolitan Police in 2009 after he was photographed entering Downing Street carrying a secret briefing note on which details of the undercover operation could be seen.
The former anti-terror chief is to give evidence to the Whitehall inquiry into allegations against Mr Green.
The Cabinet Office inquiry was triggered after Kate Maltby, who is three decades younger than Mr Green, told The Times that he “fleetingly” touched her knee during a meeting in a Waterloo pub in 2015, and a year later sent her a “suggestive” text message after she was pictured wearing a corset in the newspaper.
Mr Green said any allegation that he made sexual advances to Ms Maltby was “untrue (and) deeply hurtful”.
Former minister Ms Soubry told The Andrew Marr Show: “What we are having in relation to Damian, who I said should have been suspended so there was a proper inquiry, this would have formed part of that inquiry, and instead we are pretty much having trial by the newspapers. And this is not acceptable.”