Who is Kate Maltby and what ‘corset’ text did Damian Green send? Journalist who accused Cabinet minister of touching her knee
THE revelations about porn being found on ex-Deputy Prime Minister Damian Green's computer followed allegations that he acted inappropriately towards a female Tory activist.
Here's everything we know about Kate Maltby's claims the sacked Tory MP touched her knee in a bar and sent her a sleazy text after she appeared in a corset for a newspaper article.
Why has Damian Green been sacked?
The First Secretary of State was fired on Wednesday December 20 after he admitted lying over porn found on his office computer.
A Cabinet Office investigation ruled he twice gave “inaccurate and misleading” public statements over whether smutty material had been found on his House of Commons computer during a botched police raid in 2008.
That was deemed a clear breach of the ministerial code, which is an immediate sacking offence.
PM Theresa May said she was “extremely sad” to have asked her 61-year-old colleague, a friend from university days, to resign.
Who is Kate Maltby?
Kate Maltby is a Tory activist and academic who claimed Damian Green, a friend of her parents, made a pass on her in a bar - and flirted with her over text.
Her mother Victoria was an Oxford University contemporary of Mr Green, while her multi-millionaire banker dad Colin was the first love of ex-Tory MP Ann Widdecombe.
On her , Ms Maltby describes herself as an "intellectual historian and scholar".
She studied at Oxford and Yale University in the US and has been working towards PhD at University College London on the intellectual and literary life of Elizabeth I.
She has also appeared on Newsnight and BBC Question Time.
What were her allegations against Mr Green?
In the wake of sexual harassment and abuse allegations levelled against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, Ms Maltby recalled an encounter with Mr Green - who is 30 years her senior.
She said she met the Tory MP in a London pub two years ago, in column.
They had discussed her career - as well as sexual affairs in Parliament.
She claimed Mr Green had told her that his wife was "very understanding".
And Ms Maltby, 31, said he put "a fleeting hand against my knee - so brief, it was almost deniable".
It left her so "angry" that he was "hitting on her when he offered a job" that she ignored him for a year.
But after appearing in a corset in the newspaper to accompany an article about the history of the clothing, Ms Maltby received a text from Mr Green.
He wrote: "Long time no see. But having admired you in a corset in my favourite tabloid I feel compelled to ask if you are free for a drink anytime?"
She said she ignored the message and only contacted Mr Green after he became a minister in Mrs May's new Cabinet on July 17 last year, congratulating him on his appointment.
Days after the allegations, it emerged that police had found "extreme pornography" on Mr Green's computer in 2008, in a raid over Home Office leaks.
Mr Green said it was "absolutely and completely untrue that I’ve ever made any sexual advances on Ms [Kate] Maltby".
In his resignation statement, he said: "I deeply regret the distress caused to Kate Maltby following her article about me and the reaction to it.
"I do not recognise the events she described in her article, but I clearly made her feel uncomfortable and for this I apologise."
How has she reacted to Mr Green's sacking?
Her parents, Colin and Victoria Maltby, issued a statement to say they were "proud of her".
They said: "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."