Senior MPs believe prime minister has shown decisive leadership in forcing out her deputy over porn allegations

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Sacking Damian Green will have left Theresa May more isolated in cabinet but more popular with backbench MPs and members, senior party figures have said.

As the prime minister weighs up an undoubted personal loss after forcing a close friend to resign over pornography claims, MPs said she should take comfort in winning over a section of her party who want to see decisive leadership.

Instead, MPs have turned their ire on the former police officers whose notes from a confidential inquiry brought down May’s de facto deputy prime minister.

The first secretary of state was made to resign on Wednesday night after he was found to have misled the public with statements about pornography found on his computer in 2008.

Green, 61, insisted twice last month that no pornography was discovered during a controversial police raid of his parliamentary office that year. He is said by friends to be sad but not surprised by May’s decision to ask him to resign.

Damian Green sacked as first secretary of state after porn allegations Read more

MPs said they were relieved that Green’s sacking was timed for Wednesday night so that the prime minister did not have to face a baying House of Commons in its aftermath – and was executed quickly.

One former cabinet minister said: “She will look across that table and will no longer see a single person she can guarantee will watch her back. That is unfortunate, it is isolating, and not a problem that you can remedy easily.



“However, there will be many MPs who will be glad to see her taking a bold decision and sticking to it. Damian’s sacking will play well with some members and with the electorate.”

May must now decide whether to replace her longstanding ally with an individual who holds down the same two roles as Green, who was first secretary of state and Cabinet Office minister.

The latter role will need to be filled, but the former – which renders the incumbent the de facto deputy prime minister – could be left vacant.

Possible replacements for Green, according to party sources, include Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary; Amber Rudd, the home secretary; and David Lidington, the justice secretary, each of whom are seen as relatively safe pairs of hands.

Hunt, 51, appeared to rule himself out on the Today Programme this morning by insisting he wanted to stay on in his current role. But he has gained support by managing to straddle the Brexit divide within the party.

Rudd, 54, is an ally of May and a strong media performer. But as a remainer, her promotion could cause ripples among the hard Brexiteers such as Michael Gove and Boris Johnson.

Lidington, 61, is known to enjoy chairing meetings and getting to grips with detail – a necessary skill in Green’s former job.

A reshuffle is not expected before Christmas, granting May breathing space over the festive break to consider her next moves and how extensive a shake-up she wants.

How a decade-old row over a police raid led to Damian Green's fall Read more

There is less of a pressing need to replace Green than the other two cabinet ministers May has lost in recent weeks – the defence secretary Michael Fallon and international development secretary Priti Patel – because Green does not have the same departmental responsibilities.

MPs said they hoped May would use this opportunity to bring more fresh faces in to the cabinet.

One relatively new Conservative MP said May should use Green’s departure to plan a wider reshuffle and promote new people. “The cabinet team she has now is largely inherited – she’s never really had a chance to forge the team in her image,” he said.

“But most important, it would give the party a shot in the arm. Theresa’s legacy will not just be Brexit, it will also be about trying to renew the party. Although we’ve had a good couple of weeks we’ve had a tough year, and she could bring new ideas and new faces.”

Tory MPs, rather than turn their fire on May, have instead hit out at the two retired police officers involved in publicising the claims about pornography on Green’s computer.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, MP for North East Somerset, told the Sun: “I’m deeply concerned that as far as I can tell the reason for his resignation is some questionable behaviour by retired policemen based on a deeply questionable search of his office when he was an opposition spokesman in 2008.”

He added: “I think this raises more questions about how the police behaved then, and how the retired policemen behaved since, than it does about Damian Green.”

Andrew Mitchell, a former cabinet minister, said: “These two admitted breaches of the ministerial code are dwarfed by the extraordinary behaviour of the police.”

The Metropolitan police announced on Thursday that it had referred the leaks inquiry on to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

It concerns Neil Lewis, 48, a former detective constable who revealed this month that he had assessed the pornography on Green’s computer.

Lewis spoke out to back Bob Quick, the Met’s former head of counter-terrorism, who told the Sunday Times in November that his officers had reported finding pornographic material on a computer from Green’s office.