BREAKING NEWS: PM sacks deputy Damian Green after report finds he lied when he said there was no porn on his Parliamentary computer as cop who found it nine years ago finally gets his man

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Theresa May tonight sacked her deputy Damian Green after a sleaze inquiry found he had failed to tell the truth about pornography found on his computer. 

The Cabinet Office investigation said he had issued two ‘inaccurate and misleading’ statements, denying he knew about the discovery made in a botched police raid on his Commons office in 2008.

Sir Alex Allen, Theresa May’s adviser on ministerial interests, said the lack of candour amounted to two breaches of the ministerial code. This left the PM with no choice but to ask her friend and deputy to resign.

Mr Green, who was first secretary of state, became the third Cabinet minister to resign in two months, following the exits of Sir Michael Fallon and Priti Patel.

His departure is a bitter blow to the PM, who relied heavily on her old university friend. In a letter to Mr Green last night, she said she was ‘extremely sad’ about his departure. 

Green's fall from high office is the culmination of a decade-long feud with former Met Police assistant commissioner Bob Quick, who raided his parliamentary office back in 2008 as part of a probe into Home Office leaks. 

A friend of Mr Green said the police had ‘got their man after a nine-year vendetta’. 

Mr Quick, dubbed 'Bitter Bob' by a number of former colleagues, is said to have never forgiven those he believes sabotaged his high-flying career following his investigation into Mr Green nearly a decade ago. 

Damian Green, pictured with Theresa May at PMQs today, has known he PM since they were at Oxford University together and is one of her closest allies in politics. His departure is a major blow for the PM

The First Secretary of State (pictured outside his house today ) was 'asked to resign' from the Government by the Prime Minister - who he has been close friends with since they were at university together 30 years ago

Mr Green (pictured on Wednesday night) said he has been clear he 'did not download or view pornography' but accepted his initial denial of all knowledge there was any porn discovered on the computer had been misleading 

Damian Green, pictured with his wife Alicia, said the allegations against him have been deeply hurtful to him and his family

The inquiry into Mr Green’s conduct was launched on November 1 following disputed claims by Tory activist Kate Maltby that he  had made unwanted advances on her. 

The sleaze inquiry said Miss Maltby’s claims were ‘plausible’, but said it was ‘not possible to reach a definitive conclusion on the appropriateness’ of his behaviour.

In his resignation letter last night, Mr Green said he did not recognise Miss Maltby’s account of their meeting in a London pub in 2015, when she claims he touched her knee and made suggestive comments.

Former Met Police assistant commissioner Bob Quick claimed he found vast quantities of porn of Damian Green's office computers when he raided his parliamentary office in 2008.

But he added: ‘I clearly made her feel uncomfortable and for this I apologise.’ Mrs May said Mr Green was right to concede this point.

His departure robs the PM of her closest political ally. Home Secretary Amber Rudd has been tipped as a possible replacement as first secretary of state, but government sources last night indicated that a reshuffle could be postponed until the new year. 

Although Mr Green does not run a ministry he was a central figure, heading a number of Cabinet committees and being a member of Mrs May’s inner Brexit ‘War Cabinet’.

Mr Green was a leading Remainer and his departure will tip the balance in the Cabinet in favour of the Brexiteers.

Brexit Secretary David Davis had urged Mrs May not to allow the police to claim Mr Green’s scalp. Aides insisted he would not be resigning in protest, but many Tories are furious about what they see as a vendetta by former detectives to destroy a serving cabinet minister.

Accusations about computer pornography were made by Mr Quick, who ordered the raid on Mr Green’s Commons office.

He was later backed up by another former Scotland Yard detective Neil Lewis, who said he had no doubt that Mr Green himself had downloaded the pornography, which he said ran to ‘thousands’ of images.

Damian Green tonight was forced to quit as Theresa May's deputy after he was found to have lied over claims porn was found n his computer

Mr Green is the third cabinet minister to be forced to quit in just six weeks after their careers have been hit by scandal. Sir Michael Fallon and Priti Patel resigned as defence secretary and international development secretary respectively 

The discovery had no relevance to the police inquiry at the time, which was focused on uncovering the source of leaked Home Office material being passed to Mr Green, who was then shadow immigration minister. 

It also had no relevance to the claims made by Miss Maltby. None of the allegations related to Mr Green’s time as a minister. But his failure to tell the truth about them broke the ministerial code, which requires office holders to be truthful at all times.

When Mr Quick’s allegations were published last month, Mr Green issued an angry statement, saying: ‘This story is completely untrue and comes from a tainted and untrustworthy source.’

Mr Green said the police had ‘never suggested to me that improper material was found on my parliamentary computer.’ 

Mr Quick arrested Mr Green, then a shadow immigration minister, and held him for nine hours while his constituency office and home was searched.

The episode sparked a huge inquest at the Commons into whether parliamentary privilege should have protected the material held by an MP.

And just a year later Mr Quick quit as a policeman after being photographed heading into No10 with a security briefing about an undercover operation.

But after a decade of bad blood between the two men, the controversial office rad has finally ended Mr Green's Cabinet career. 

Separate allegations Mr Green behaved inappropriately to a Tory activist Kate Maltby were found unproven, but his actions over the porn claims were considered a breach of the ministerial code.

It makes him the third Cabinet minister to quit from Mrs May's top team in just six weeks after ex defence chief Sir Michael Fallon and former international development secretary Priti Patel quit amid scandals. 

Mr Quick claimed he found vast amounts of porn on Mr Green's office computer during the police raid and took his allegation to the Government's standards chiefs in early November at the height of the Westminster sleaze scandal.

Mr Green scrambled to deny the claims - insisting in a statement on November 4 that the 'police have never suggested to me that improper material was found on my parliamentary computer'.

But while he continues to deny claims he viewed inappropriate material on his office computer, he has now admits police did talk to his lawyers about the allegations back in 2008 and again in 2013.

And it is his original statement denying all knowledge of the porn that has been his undoing and forced him to quit from Mrs May's Cabinet. 

In a statement, Mr Green said: 'From the outset I have been clear that I did not download or view pornography on my Parliamentary computers.

'I accept that I should have been clear in my press statement that police lawyers talked to my lawyers in 2008 about the pornography on the computers, and that the police raised it with me in in a subsequent phone call in 2013.

'I apologise that my statements were misleading on this point.

'The unfounded and deeply hurtful allegations that were being levelled at me were distressing to both me and my family and it is right that these are being investigated by the Metropolitan Police's professional standards department.'

The departure of Mr Green, regarded as Mrs May’s closest ally in politics, will be a hammer blow to the PM as she was struggling to get her government back on track.

She had fought for weeks to try and find a way to save him, but eventually decided he must go.

Mr Green’s letter pointedly stayed that he had been ‘asked’ to resign - indicating his desire had been to tough out the storm.

The 61-year-old wrote a resignation letter to Mrs May today and said that he and 'should have been clear' when giving statements about the incident.

He wrote: 'I accept that I should have been clear in my press statement that police lawyers talked to my lawyers in 2008 about the pornography on the computers, and that the police raised it with me in a subsequent phone call in 2013.

'I apologise that my statements were misleading on this point.' 

Mrs May accepted his resignation and wrote: 'I'm extremely sad to be writing this letter, we have been friends and colleagues throughout our whole political lives.

'From our early days at university, entering the House of Commons at the same election, and serving alongside each other, both in opposition and in government, I have greatly appreciated your hard work and the contribution you have made to my team.'  

But she said she asked her de facto deputy to leave the Cabinet after he accepted that statements he put out denying the allegations on November 4 and 11 'were inaccurate and misleading'.

She said this amounted to a breach of the ministerial code.

Mrs May added: ‘While I can understand the considerable distress caused to you by some of the allegations which have been made in recent weeks, I know that you share my commitment to maintaining the highs standards which the public demand of minsters of the crown.

‘It is therefore with deep regret and enduring attitude for the contribution you have make over many years, that I asked you to resign from the Government and have accepted your resignation.’ 

It is understood Mrs May asked Mr Green to resign after summoning him to Downing Street on Wednesday evening, and is not planning to replace him until the new year at the earliest.

His sacking could pile more pressure on the PM following the resignations in recent weeks of Sir Michael, and Ms Patel as international development secretary over undisclosed meetings in Israel.

Miss Maltby last night declined to comment, but her parents, Colin and Victoria Maltby, issued a statement to say they were ‘proud of her’.

They said: ‘We are pleased that the Cabinet Office has concluded its enquiry into the conduct of Damian Green.

‘We are not surprised to find that the inquiry found Mr Green to have been untruthful as a minister, nor to that they found our daughter to be a plausible witness.

‘We have received many supportive messages from people near and far who appreciate Kate’s courage and the importance of speaking out about the abuse of authority.

‘We join with them in admiring her fortitude and serenity throughout the length of the investigation and despite the attempted campaign in certain sections of the media to denigrate and intimidate her and other witnesses. We are proud of her.

‘We have ourselves known of these incidents since they first occurred and have fully supported Kate in the responsible manner in which she has reported them.’ 

They were legal, but Green's computer had hundreds of porn images, ex-cop tells BBC

Neil Lewis discussed the contents of Mr Green's computer with the BBC

Neil Lewis: The shocking thing as I was viewing I noticed a lot of pornography thumbnails which indicated web browsing... I was surprised to see that on a parliamentary computer...

BBC’s Danny Shaw: How many images did you see on that?

NL: There were thousands

BBC: Thousands of pornographic images?

NL: Thumbnail images

BBC: How can you be sure that it was Damian Green who was accessing that pornography?

NL: I’ve been in situations where a barrister has said to me in court: ‘So you’re telling me my client has done this?’ And I have to say: ‘Well, no because I wasn’t there.’ But the computer was in Mr Green’s office on his desk, logged in to his account, his name. In between browsing pornography he was sending emails from his account his personal account, reading documents, writing documents and it was just impossible. It was sort of exclusive and extensive. It’s ridiculous to suggest that anybody else could have done it.

BBC: Is it possible that someone could have hijacked the computer or hijacked the account in some way to access pornography in his name on his account?

NL: I can’t imagine it. It would be a very bizarre situation for somebody to hack a parliamentary computer to place pornography. There was also pornography found, internet history found, on a separate machine – a laptop – of a similar nature.

BBC: Is it possible that someone else in the office or who had access to the office had used his machine?

NL: Whoever had done it would have had to push Mr Green to one side to say: ‘Get out I’m using your computer’

BBC: Is it possible that you’ve made a mistake? That perhaps you’ve muddled up two computers? That there’s been a problem with the exhibits... and this is actually a computer that belongs to someone else or has got mixed up in a technical way?

NL: Absolutely no way. I was the one who seized it... I was the one who examined it, photographed it. I deal with computer forensics... I produce digital evidence.

BBC: He’s now in effect deputy prime minister and the idea that he’s accessing pornography on this scale just strikes some people as impossible or absurd. There must be some explanation - someone else has hijacked his account or there’s an error at Scotland Yard or possibly someone’s tried to plant it?

NL: I wish there was. It was shocking at the time when he was shadow immigration minister. I never imagined I’d be sitting here down the line discussing it.

BBC: There was no doubt in your mind that it was Damian Green who had accessed pornography on that computer?

NL: Absolutely no doubt whatsoever.

BBC: You make a statement on what you’ve found to your senior investigating officer?

NL: That’s correct

BBC: Did you mention pornography?

NL: No. No I didn’t. Because it had no bearing on the leak investigation. If there was browsing in relation to leaked documents that would have been relevant.

BBC: So why now in 2017 why are you now coming forward doing an interview?

NL: There was an article in the Sunday Times in relation to Damian Green having pornography on his computer. His outright denial of that was quite amazing followed by his criticism of Bob Quick, my senior officer. So I contacted Bob Quick to offer my support. When I left the place I kept one notebook [on this case].

BBC: Why did you keep that notebook?

NL: Because that was the case that I was uncomfortable with.