Damian Green was tonight preparing to release his text messages to an inquiry probing claims he made an inappropriate pass at a Tory activist.
The Prime Minister’s deputy intends to show he had a ‘friendly’ relationship with Kate Maltby when the disputed incident took place.
Mr Green has been referred to the cabinet secretary by Downing Street after it was claimed he sent her a text message about how he had admired her in a corset.
Kate Maltby, 31, a critic and academic involved in Conservative politics, revealed the message and described a meeting between them in a bar where they discussed sexual affairs within parliament.
In the wake of the new escalation in the harassment scandal sweeping Westminster, Theresa May called on party leaders to work together on a solution.
First secretary of state, Damian Green (left) has been accused of making advances towards Kate Maltby, 31 (right). Mr Green was said tonight to be ready to hand his text messages to an inquiry
Theresa May was flanked by female ministers at PMQs today, with Mr Green further down the benches. She said she was inviting leaders of other parties to talks next week on a new grievance procedure for MPs’ staff
Doorstepped by reporters as he left for Westminster this morning, Mr Green dismissed the allegations against him as ‘completely false’. He has instructed lawyers.
It is understood he is ready to hand over text messages exchanged with Ms Maltby to demonstrate they had a ‘standard’ and ‘friendly’ journalist-minister relationship.
But Tory MP Anna Soubry suggested under ‘normal circumstances’ he should stand aside while a probe is conducted. Downing Street also raised eyebrows by refusing to confirm that the investigations into trade minister Mark Garnier and Mr Green were the only ones currently in train.
Speaking at PMQs in the Commons this afternoon, Mrs May said she was asking other party leaders to meet early next week to discuss a new and more robust grievance procedure for MPs’ staff.
The PM wants serious allegations to be referred to an independent body.
Jeremy Corbyn, whose Labour party is also facing a series of allegations about abuse, said he would work with the premier.
But Mrs May was challenged in the Commons by Labour MP Lisa Nandy, who said: ‘Three years ago I brought evidence to her in this House that whips had used information about sexual abuse to demand loyalty from MPs.
‘I warned her at the time that unless real action was taken, we risked repeating those injustices again today.
‘On three occasions I asked her to act, and on three occasions she did not.’
Mrs May said whips’ offices should ‘make clear to people that where there are any sexual abuse allegations that could be of a criminal nature that people should go to the police’.
No10 said at least one of Ms Nandy’s questions appeared to refer to an alleged assault on a child in the 1970s, and she had been seeking reassurance from Mrs May that the inquiry into child sexual abuse would be able to look into allegations relating to information held by whips.
Miss Maltby (pictured) said Mr Green sent her a text after seeing a photo of her in a corset
Senior politicians are scrambling to address the growing scandal at parliament, which appears to have been triggered by the fallout from the Harvey Weinstein revelations in the US.
Mr Green was yesterday named as being on a controversial dossier over highly disputed historical claims he used an adultery website.
According to the latest allegations, Miss Maltby, 31, said he told her ‘his wife was very understanding’ and put a ‘fleeting hand against my knee – so brief, it was almost deniable’.
Writing in the Times, she said the encounter with Mr Green left her feeling ‘angry’.
Then following the publication of a photograph of her wearing a corset, Mr Green, who was not a minister at the time, text her.
The message read: ‘Long time no see. But having admired you in a corset in my favourite tabloid I feel impelled to ask if you are free for a drink anytime?’
Mr Green said last night: ‘It is absolutely and completely untrue that I’ve ever made any sexual advances on Ms Maltby.’
He said they had known each other since 2014 and had had a drinks as friends twice a year.
He added: ‘The text I sent after she appeared in a newspaper article was sent in that spirit – as two friends agreeing to meet for a regular catch up – and nothing more.
‘This untrue allegation has come as a complete shock and is deeply hurtful, especially from someone I considered a personal friend.’
As he left his London home this morning, Mr Green told reporters: ‘All the allegations are completely false.’
But Tory MP Mrs Soubry suggested he should stand aside while an investigation is carried out.
‘I think it’s really serious. God knows what his wife must feel,’ she told Sky News.
‘The allegation against Damian Green has been reported to the Cabinet Office and there will be an investigation…
‘In normal circumstances that person would be suspended.’
Challenged over calls for Mr Green to stand down, a Downing Street source said: ‘The key thing is that the investigation is both speedy and thorough, and that is our focus.’
A senior Labour source said there were ‘clear questions’ over whether an inquiry by Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood could fulfil the need for investigations into alleged wrongdoing by Government ministers to be ‘robust and independent’.
Mr Green is the Minister for the Cabinet Office. The PM has an independent advisor on ministerial interests, Sir Alex Alan, who is thought to be paid £30,000 a year to be on hand if any allegations need investigating.
A Downing Street spokesperson said the Prime Minister (pictured in Downing Street today) had referred the allegations to the Cabinet Secretary to ‘establish the facts and report back as soon as possible’
However, he is not believed to have been tasked with probing the allegations against Mr Green or Mr Garnier.
No10 declined to confirm that those were the only ministers being investigated. Asked whether they would follow the convention of announcing such probe publicly, the senior source said they would not give a ‘running commentary’.
Meanwhile, Labour has launched an independent inquiry into claims that prominent activist Bex Bailey was discouraged by a party official from reporting an alleged rape at a Labour event in 2011 on the grounds it might damage her political career.
Mr Corbyn vowed he would allow ‘no tolerance’ of sexism, harassment or abuse after Ms Bailey spoke out about the party’s failure to support her.
Aged 19 at the time of the alleged attack, she said she felt too scared and ashamed to report it to the police, but eventually summoned up the courage to tell a senior party official.
The Labour source declined to comment on whether Ms Bailey’s alleged attacker was still working for the party.
The First Secretary of State strenuously denied accusations two years ago that he was a member of the Ashley Madison site after his private email address was found among millions leaked by hackers.
But a redacted version of the Westminster sex dossier, published yesterday, listed a Cabinet minister together with the words Ashley Madison.
Shortly afterwards, Mr Green was named in reports as being the minister identified by the dossier.
The allegation first emerged in 2015 when Mr Green’s email address appeared on a hacked list of members of the dating site for married people wanting to cheat on their spouses.
The email address was apparently used from a computer in Parliament in 2007 to register with the site.
Whoever enrolled with Ashley Madison typed in the maiden name of Mr Green’s mother for the security question.
According to the hacked information, the profile linked to his email address stated: ‘I’m looking for some NSA [no strings attached] fun with a woman who has an ache for good sex.’
At the time Mr Green, 61, who has been married since 1988 and has two children, categorically denied any involvement with the dating site, saying: ‘I have never registered for an account with Ashley Madison.’
And Ashley Madison admitted that it did not verify email addresses so it was possible to use the site with someone else’s address.
‘This has caused deep distress’: Ex-Tory aide breaks cover to DENY her former boss ever mistreated her
A former Tory aide broke cover to deny she had ever been mistreated by her boss today despite them both being named in a controversial sleaze dossier.
Sophie Bolsover issued a statement defending her ex boss Rory Stewart as the scandal around harassment in Westminster grew today.
Mr Stewart, now a Government aid minister, and Dominic Raab, a justice minister, both outed themselves as being wrongly included on the list today.
The trio are the latest subjects of the rumours to publicly rebut the allegations, which have been widely circulated at Westminster and now published online.
Although it was apparently compiled to expose sexual misconduct, a number of the 40 entries relate to consensual relationships with no sign of wrongdoing.
Mr Stewart’s former aide Sophie Bolsover tweeted today that ‘nothing of the kind implied by my name being included on this spreadsheet ever took place’
Rory Stewart and his former aide Sophie Bolsover spoke out flatly to deny the allegations in the controversial dossier
Mr Stewart was alleged on the document to have ‘asked female researcher to do odd things’. Ms Bolsover’s name was also included.
But she tweeted today that ‘nothing of the kind implied by my name being included on this spreadsheet ever took place’.
‘During my time working in parliament, Rory Stewart was never anything other than completely professional and an excellent employer,’ Ms Bolsover wrote.
International development minister Mr Stewart retweeted his former staffer’s statement, adding: ‘This story is completely untrue + deeply hurtful. Neither of us have any idea how our names appeared on the list.’
In a post on his website, justice minister Mr Raab also confronted the allegations.
‘Under my own name, the entry reads: “Injunction for inappropriate behaviour with a woman”,’ he wrote.
‘And yet, I have never been served with any injunction for anything. Nor have I ever sought one.
‘Equally, any insinuation that I have engaged in anything resembling sexual harassment, sexually abusive behaviour or lewd remarks with either Parliamentary colleagues or staff (in any job I have done) is false and malicious. I have already taken legal advice.’
Other MPs have also broken cover to challenge the claims in the document, thought to have been put together by a handful of current and former Tory aides.
‘LabourToo’ probe invites members to anonymously reveal harassment and will report to officials about abuse inside Labour in weeks
Labour party activists have been invited to anonymously report harassment to an independent probe that will report to party chiefs within weeks.
The ‘LabourToo’ website was set up as the ‘MeToo’ campaign spread around the world in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
It was created by six female members of Labour who have kept their identities hidden for fear of further abuse.
Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to ensure there is ‘no tolerance’ for harassment and assault in Labour after prominent activist Bex Bailey last night revealed she had been urged by party staff to not report being raped.
The revelation dragged Labour into the heart of a growing scandal in Westminster over harassment and sexual assault.
Jeremy Corbyn (pictured today at PMQs) has vowed to ensure there is ‘no tolerance’ for harassment and assault in Labour
Prominent activist Bex Bailey (file image) last night revealed she had been urged by party staff to not report being raped
A spokesman for the LabourToo campaign told the Huffington Post: ‘We decided to set up the campaign off the back of recent inappropriate and unacceptable comments made by Labour MPs Jared O’Mara and Clive Lewis and the rise of the #MeToo campaign, which saw lots of women sharing their stories.
‘Obviously since then the issue has become a lot bigger and we are continuing to ask people to send us their experiences, in complete confidence.
‘The focus is very much on Westminster at the moment, but we know it is a problem throughout politics as a whole – affecting people across the whole country – and people have come to us with stories of incidents ranging from harassment and inappropriate comments to sexual abuse.
‘It is not just a central government issue that needs to be dealt with – it’s local government too.’
At Prime Minister’s Questions today, Labour leader Mr Corbyn said he was happy to work with Theresa May on a cross party solution.
He said: ‘We need better protections for all, this House must involve workplace trade unions in that but it’s also incumbent on all parties to have robust procedures in place to protect and support victims of abuse and harassment.’
Sources close to Mr Corbyn today said the independent investigation into what happened to Ms Bailey would be concluded as quickly as possible.
My drink was spiked with date rape drug in House of Commons bar, claims former Tory aide – who was told by police it ‘wasn’t the first time’
A date rape drug is said to have been used on a Tory aide’s drink in a Commons bar and another woman claims an MP grabbed her by the crotch as the Westminster sex row escalated again today.
The former Conservative aide has claimed that the drugging took place at the Strangers’ Bar on the parliamentary estate, which is reserved for MPs and their guests.
She told the Evening Standard she reported the episode at the venue to the police and an officer said it was not the first time it had happened.
The newspaper also reported an allegation that a woman who worked for a Tory MP had been approached by him from behind in her office.
He is said to have grabbed her crotch, but the House authorities apparently told her there was ‘nothing they could do’.
A Westminster staffer last night claimed she was sexually assaulted by an MP – but that Parliament failed to act after she reported it
Westminster has been rocked by a slew of allegations, which appear to have been prompted by the Harvey Weinstein scandal in the US.
Another staffer last night claimed she was sexually assaulted by an MP – but that Parliament failed to act after she reported it.
The alleged victim, who spoke anonymously and did not identify which party the MP was from, said the man forced himself on her in a hotel room last year.
But when she and a senior colleague reported it to several authorities, she claimed they refused to act, adding that officials ‘at best turned a blind eye and at worst actively covered it up’.