Theresa May has demanded that former police officers who leaked the Damian Green pornography accusations be “properly investigated”.
The prime minister fired her close ally and first secretary of state on Wednesday evening after he was found to have lied when he said he did not know police had found porn on his office computer during a raid in 2008.
Two former police officers, ex-Met assistant commissioner Bob Quick and former detective constable Neil Lewis, who leaked details of the discovery, have been referred to the data protection watchdog.
Speaking in Poland this afternoon, May repeated calls for there to be an investigation.
“As I said in my letter, I share the concerns that have been raised about across the political spectrum about comments that were made by a former police officer,” she said.
“I expect those issues to be properly investigated, to be taken seriously and to be properly looked at.”
Speaking in Moscow on Thursday evening, Foreign Secretary said the leaking of information about Green was “a bit whiffy” and backed calls for the officers involved to be looked into.
Metropolitan Commissioner Cressida Dick today said the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) was the right body to carry forward the investigation into Quick and Lewis.
“We are disappointed to see that it appears that former colleagues have put into the public domain via the media material that they appear to have had access to as part of a confidential investigation,” she said.
“We have been reviewing that in the Met in the last couple of weeks. We have had a QC helping us with that.
Under the Data Protection Act, anyone who is prosecuted and found guilty could face an unlimited fine.
The Cabinet Office inquiry in Green also found that the claims made by Kate Maltby, the Conservative activist who claimed the Tory MP had made unwanted sexual advances towards her, were “plausible”.
Green’s sacking follows the November resignations of Sir Michael Fallon as defence secretary amid Westminster sleaze allegations, and international development secretary Priti Patel over undisclosed meetings in Israel.
May is unlikely to to replace Green, if at all, until the New Year at the earliest as part of a reshuffle.
Labour said Green’s sacking leaves May “further weakened” while the Liberal Democrats said the Government was “barely holding itself together”.