(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Theresa May's closest cabinet ally has been drawn into the furor over allegations of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment at the top of British politics.
First Secretary of State Damian Green denied claims from a female writer that he made inappropriate sexual advances toward her. May referred the matter to Jeremy Heywood, her most senior official, to urgently establish the facts of the case.
The allegation emerged on the day May gave Green more power over Brexit policy. She has known him since university, and he's one of her most trusted political friends.
“An allegation has been made in relation to the First Secretary of State, which he strongly denies,” May's office said in statement. “The Prime Minister has referred the matter to the Cabinet Secretary to establish the facts and report back as soon as possible.”
Post-Election Role
The Times newspaper in London reported in Wednesday's edition that Green is alleged to have made inappropriate advances toward historian Kate Maltby. She details the claims in the newspaper, which also quotes text messages the minister is alleged to have sent to her.
“It is absolutely and completely untrue that I've ever made any sexual advances on Ms. Maltby,” Green told the Times. “This untrue allegation has come as a complete shock and is deeply hurtful, especially from someone I considered a personal friend.”
Green was appointed First Secretary of State as May struggled with the fallout of her disastrous election gambit in June. Since then he has helped to steady her operation.
Green, 61, was a contemporary of May's at Oxford University and has been a key ally of the premier even as other members of her cabinet undermined her leadership. A mild-mannered former business journalist, he was appointed by May to oversee the difficult job of bringing together different parts of the government and devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales over Brexit.
‘Properly Investigated'
Green became an unlikely popular hero in 2008 after he was arrested by police in London over alleged plans to leak information potentially damaging to the Labour government at the time. He was later cleared and the police were criticized for their heavy-handedness in arresting a sitting lawmaker.
Earlier in October, he was asked at a Westminster lunch about whether Parliament could be hit by a sex scandal. He replied that “people's awareness generally of the fact that there are usually men in power who seek to exploit that power for bad purposes is the best defense against it.”
On Monday, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon admitted to repeatedly touching the knee of a female journalist at a dinner 15 years ago and said he had apologized at the time and they had put the incident behind them. The journalist, Julia Hartley-Brewer, who said she had threatened to “punch him in the face” if he did it again, also downplayed the incident.
Read more: U.K. Scandal Hits Inner Circle as Cabinet Minister Named
May's spokesman James Slack told reporters Tuesday that the prime minister “has confidence in her ministers,” and said that allegations would “be properly investigated.”
The prime minister can ill afford to lose ministers to scandal. She is trying to negotiate Britain's departure from the European Union and manage a party that has lost confidence in her after she came within a few thousand votes of losing power in June.
While the scandal has focused on government ministers, with a list circulating on the internet alleging various sorts of wrongdoing, the opposition Labour Party has also been hit.
Leader Jeremy Corbyn suspended the membership of one of his lawmakers over sexist and homophobic comments, and yesterday an activist said she'd been been raped at a party event in 2011 by a senior figure, and then discouraged from reporting it by a party staffer.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net, Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Robert Jameson
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