Damian Green was asked to apologise on behalf of the government for letting down victims of sexual assault, as he took prime minister’s questions for Theresa May while under investigation over allegations of sexual impropriety.
The first secretary of state was pressed for an apology by the Labour MP John Mann, who has led a campaign to expose sexual wrongdoing in politics.
Sue Gray, the head of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office, is still investigating claims that Green harassed a young Conservative activist and downloaded pornography to a work computer. He denies both allegations.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Mann said: “Being believed, reliving trauma, fear of publicity, and a culture of denial are some of the reasons that women are reluctant to report rape, assault and sexual harassment.
“Does he [Green] agree with me that government and parliament need to lead by example and will he on behalf of government apologise to the victims that parliament and government have been letting down?”
Green declined the opportunity to apologise but agreed that all political parties needed to improve their complaints procedures to “make sure that young men and young women who are interested in politics do not in any way feel deterred from playing an active role in it”.
Green was standing in for May as she was on a trip to Jordan. He was subject to a dig from Labour’s Emily Thornberry, who was standing in for Jeremy Corbyn, over whether he was happy to be held to the same standards in government that he required of others in opposition.
Green said he agreed that “all ministers should respect and obey the ministerial code and that is a very important part of confidence in public life”.
Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, noted that Green looked “rather perturbed”, before alluding to the investigation by saying: “I really am not going there.”
Earlier, May was forced to defend her decision to allow Green to deputise for her as she began a tour of the Middle East. “He is the first secretary of state. He has deputised for me at prime minister’s questions before,” she said. “Obviously consideration is continuing of these issues. But he’s first secretary of state, he has done prime minister’s questions before and I’m sure he’ll do a very good job.”
The inquiry was launched on 1 November after Kate Maltby, a Conservative activist and historian, wrote an article claiming Green had touched her knee in 2015 and, a year later, sent her a suggestive message. Green said the claims were “untrue and deeply hurtful” and denies ever having made any advances towards the activist, whose parents are family friends of the cabinet minister.
On Wednesday the Standard published text messages showing Maltby had complained about Green’s conduct to a friend 17 months ago, alleging that the MP had made an advance towards her at the same time as offering her a job.
It has also been alleged that pornography of an extreme nature was found on Green’s parliamentary office computer after a police raid in 2008.
Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan police commissioner between 2009 and 2011, confirmed he had been briefed about the pornography allegations but said he regarded it as a “side issue”. He said he regretted that the matter was in the public domain.
Green has said his accusers had ulterior motives. “I reiterate that no allegations about the presence of improper material on my parliamentary computers have ever been put to me or to the parliamentary authorities by the police,” he said at the time.
In the Commons on Wednesday, Green and Thornberry went on to clash over the NHS, as Thornberry cited a question Green had asked of former deputy prime minister John Prescott 17 years ago: “What percentage of new nurses recruited in the past 12 months are now working full-time?”
She said the NHS had now reached such a state of crisis that more than 40% of newly recruited nurses were leaving full-time employment within the first year, and the overall number of nurses and health visitors was down by 1,500 this year. Thornberry also highlighted a threat to close an A&E ward in Green’s constituency of Ashford.
Green insisted the NHS was expanding and accused Thornberry of “talking down” the health service. “What I’m happy to assure you is that we have more nurses, more midwives, more doctors working in the health service now,” he said.
