The Porn Legacy: Theresa May’s aides want Damian Green to quit
The Porn Legacy: Mrs May's aides, including her Chief of Staff, want Damian Green to quit.https://t.co/r1GXdkHLM6 pic.twitter.com/xDGMx0XZyw
— TSE (@TSEofPB) December 3, 2017
How The Porn Legacy & The Porn Ultimatum could have an impact on Brexit
Theresa May’s senior aides want Damian Green to quit to spare the prime minister the pain of sacking him or the embarrassment of clearing him of wrongdoing.
Government sources say senior figures in Downing Street — including the chief of staff, Gavin Barwell — want Green to “do the decent thing” and “fall on his sword” over claims he propositioned a young Tory activist and that pornography was found on his computers during a police raid on his Commons office in 2008.
Insiders say Green’s fate is likely to be decided this week when Sue Gray — the head of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office — is expected to rule on allegations by Kate Maltby that Green sent her a suggestive text message and touched her knee in a bar, and claims by former police officers that he misused his Commons computer.
May’s aides say she is in a difficult position because Sir Michael Fallon, the former defence secretary, was forced to resign for touching a journalist’s knee and making suggestive remarks within earshot of a fellow cabinet minister.
“The bar is set very low,” one aide remarked. “It’s very difficult to see how Damian doesn’t clear it, but this is very difficult for Theresa.”….
….There is also concern that May would be put in an invidious position if Green was cleared, allowed to keep his job and then faced further claims of a sexual nature. “What happens if someone else comes forward?” one aide asked.
If Mrs May’s Chief of Staff thinks it’s time for the whisky and the revolver for Damian Green then Damian Green really should be worried. For those of us betting on who and when the cabinet minister goes, which also brings us to David Davis.
The Brexit Secretary has issued a porn ultimatum and threatened to resign if Damian Green is unfairly forced out, Paddy Power have Damian Green and David Davis 8/11 and 6/1 as next out the cabinet, whereas with Ladbrokes they are evens and 4/1, I’m sitting this one out because the dead heat rules makes either option very unattractive.
But if David Davis does quit then Mrs May will need a new Brexit Secretary, with less than 16 months to go until we Brexit, a new Brexit Secretary will struggle with the role and embed themselves into the role well at a critical stage in the Brexit talks.
Without her university friend Damian Green as her First Secretary of State it is very easy to see how Mrs May’s struggles as Prime Minister get worse, coupled with a political ingénue of a Brexit Secretary facing up against Michel Barnier we can see the EU27 gaining an advantage.
As Stephen Bush notes ‘David Davis fighting for the godgiven right to look at pornography on company time and not get sacked. Truly, he is a giant among pygmies.’
Fans of the Chaos Theory and Butterfly Effect will be amused that one man’s reported computer use a decade ago or alleged inappropriate behaviour could impact the type of Brexit we get.