British First Secretary of State Damian Green denied a claim by a Tory activist that he made an inappropriate sexual advance toward her in 2015, the Times reported.
In an article in the Times published Wednesday, Kate Maltby alleged Green, who is 30 years her senior and a family friend, acted inappropriately toward her — a charge he described as “completely untrue.”
“He offered me career advice and in the same breath made it clear he was sexually interested,” Maltby wrote. “It was not acceptable to me at the time and it should not be acceptable behavior in Westminster in the future.”
Maltby said Green had invited her for a drink in 2015, “steered the conversation to the habitual nature of sexual affairs in parliament” and “mentioned that his own wife was very understanding. I felt a fleeting hand against my knee — so brief, it was almost deniable. I moved my legs away, and tried to end the drink on friendly terms. I then dropped all contact for a year. I wanted nothing to do with him.”
She said that she resumed contact after he became first minister. “Since he joined the Cabinet I have exchanged many texts with him about political gossip. If you had the mobile number of Theresa May’s No. 2, wouldn’t you?”
Green strongly denied the claim that he behaved inappropriately, telling the paper: “I have known Ms. Maltby since she contacted me as board member of Bright Blue, the Conservative think tank, in 2014, and we have had a drink as friends twice-yearly … This untrue allegation has come as a complete shock and is deeply hurtful, especially from someone I considered a personal friend.”
A Downing Street spokesman told the Times Prime Minister Theresa May had referred the matter to Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood “to establish the facts and report back as soon as possible.”
The accusation comes after a string of allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior have been made against a number of senior party figures and MPs, including ministers. Tuesday, Labour activist Bex Bailey told the BBC she had been raped at a Labour Party event in 2011 but was dissuaded from reporting it.
Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom told MPs Monday: “These allegations make clear that there is a vital need to provide better support and protection to the thousands of staff working in Westminster and in constituency offices across the country.”