Ken Marsh, head of the Met Police Federation, said the Green affair threatens to poison relations between the force and the Tories
Police are furious at the ‘abhorrent’ behaviour of former detectives who waged a nine-year vendetta to end the career of Damian Green, a senior officer has said.
Ken Marsh, head of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said the affair threatens to poison relations between the force and the Tories.
And he said most officers are deeply upset retired officers Bob Quick and Neil Lewis went public with their porn claims after leaving the force.
The two officers claims they found vast quantities of inappropriate material on Mr Green’s computer when they raided his Commons office in 2008.
He denied viewing or downloading the X-rated material but it cost him his Cabinet career after he was found to have lied about knowing of the existence of the porn.
But the intervention of the two retired officers sparked a storm of criticism, and a friend of Mr Green said the police had finally got their man after a decade long ‘vendetta’.
Mr Marsh, who represents 30,000 rank and file police officers, told The Times: ‘It’s unfair and disingenuous that again we are being hauled over the coals when most of my colleagues think that what these retired officers did is abhorrent.
‘We are all privy to confidential information but we respect the rules. All this has done is pit the Tories against the police again.
‘My colleagues are professional and they just want to do their jobs.’
Retired police officers Bob Quick (pictured left) and Neil Lewis (pictured right) both went public with their claims Damian Green viewed extreme porn on his office computer. They have faced calls to be prosecuted for breaching confidentiality by going public with their claims
He warned the saga threatens to resurrect animosity which flared up during ‘Plebgate’ – the 2012 row between the Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell and officers who claimed he called them ‘plebs’.
Mr Quick – dubbed ‘Bitter Bob’ – was a high-flying police officer who had risen to become Assistant Met Police Commissioner by the time he left the force in 2009.
MAY DENIES SHE KNEW ABOUT GREEN CLAIMS A YEAR AGO
Theresa May vigorously denied claims she was first warned that Damian Green was pestering Kate malty a year ago – before she promoted him to deputy
Theresa May today denied she was told about claims Damian Green sexually harassed a Tory activist a year ago.
Kate Maltby said she first told a senior Downing Street aide in September 2016 that the then Cabinet minister touched her knee and sent her a suggestive text.
She claimed the PM was aware of a ‘pattern of behaviour’ nine months before she promoted Mr Green her be her deputy in the post election reshuffle.
But Mrs May vigorously denied the claim and said the first she knew about the allegation was when she read it in a newspaper early last month.
Speaking on a visit to see troops in Cyprus today, the PM said: ‘The first I learned of these allegations was when Kate Maltby wrote about them in The Times.
‘I recognise that Kate Maltby was obviously extremely distressed by what happened. Damian Green has recognised that and he has apologised.’
But he sparked huge controversy when he raided the office of Mr Green – then a shadow immigration minister – seized his computers and questioned him for hours as part of the probe into Home Office leaks.
He was forced to quit a year later after being photographed with document detailing an undercover operation, but he blamed the controversial raid for the downfall of his career.
Mr Quick went to the Cabinet Office with his allegations about the porn in early November.
And his former colleague Neil Lewis swiftly went public to back him up – dusting off old police notebooks he had taken with him when he retired from the force to back up his claims.
But both officers have encountered a storm of criticism from MPs and serving police officers and are being investigated over whether they have breached rules by going public with the claims.
Theresa May joined in the condemnation and said she expects the leaks to be ‘properly investigated’ and ‘taken seriously’.
While Tory MPs have demanded the pair have their pensions cut if they are found to have breached confidentiality rules.
And Cressida Dick, the Met Police commissioner – England’s most senior officer – has said confidentiality is vital for public trust in the police.
Police officers are bound by the official secrets act but its provisions are not believed to apply in this case.
The two men could face prosecution if they are found to have breached the Data Protection Act.
Mr Mitchell said that what the officers had done is ‘wrong’ adding: ‘If the law is not adequate to reflect that then it is for parliament and government to enhance the law.’
Theresa May (pictured right in Cyprus today) sacked her old friend and deputy Damian Green (pictured outside his hour yesterday) after he was found to have lied about porn claims
Mr Green was sacked by his friend of 40 years Mrs May on Wednesday night after he was found to have lied about knowing about the porn claims.
He was also investigated over claims he sexually pestered Tory activist Kate Maltby 31, by touching her leg over drinks and sending her a suggestive text.
The Cabinet Office investigation did not rule one whether he had acted inappropriately towards Miss Maltby – whose mother he knew while at Oxford University.
But it did say that investigators found Miss Maltby to give a ‘plausible’ account.