The review, a summary of which was distributed by May's Downing Street office, found that he had breached rules governing the behaviour of ministers.

"I regret that I've been asked to resign from the government following breaches of the Ministerial Code, for which I apologise," Green said in a letter to May, who said she had accepted his resignation with deep regret.

Green, 61, added that he did not download or view pornography on his parliamentary computers. He said that he should have been clearer about his statements after the story broke.

He is May's third cabinet minister to resign in recent weeks after May's defence secretary quit in November citing past conduct that fell below the required standards.

May's international aid minister resigned a week later after admitting to holding undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials.

May's premiership

During the turmoil which followed May's botched election, she turned to Green - a friend and ally from their days at Oxford - to stabilise her premiership and appease those within the Conservative Party who wanted her to quit.

One of his key roles was to act as a conduit for disgruntled party members who felt they had been ignored in May's election campaign. He sought to help her to shed the image of a distant leader who only listens to those in her inner circle.


"Its another blow for May but it is not deadly in any way at all," said Anand Menon, professor of European politics at King's College London. "She has lost her soul mate in cabinet but this is not the end of Prime Minister May."

"May is surviving not because of Damian Green but because there are sufficient MPs in her party who don't want to have a leadership election while Brexit is going on and that fundamental calculation has not changed," he said.

Breaches of Ministerial Code

The internal investigation found that his conduct as a minister was generally "professional and proper" but found two statements made by Green on Nov. 4 and 11 to be inaccurate and misleading.

In the statements he had suggested he was not aware that indecent material was found on parliamentary computers in his office.

"These statements ... constitute breaches of the Ministerial Code. Mr Green accepts this," the report summary said.

It also addressed allegations, made by the daughter of a family friend, that Green had made an unwanted advance towards her during a social meeting in 2015, had suggested that this might further her career, and later had sent her an inappropriate text message.

The report said it was not possible to reach a definitive conclusion on the appropriateness of Green s behaviour in this instance, though the investigation found allegations to be plausible.

Green said in his resignation letter that he did not recognise the account of events, but apologised to the woman, academic and critic Kate Maltby, for making her feel uncomfortable.

Reuters