Theresa May denies 'prior knowledge' of Damian Green behaviour
Theresa May has denied claims she was aware of a "pattern of behaviour" around axed Cabinet minister Damian Green.
The Prime Minister disputed allegations she was informed of other complaints prior to Conservative activist Kate Maltby coming forward in October.
Number 10 said an investigation into the former First Secretary of State was triggered once allegations reached the public domain.
The probe began after Ms Malty's complaint surfaced that Mr Green acted inappropriately towards her during a meeting in 2015 - something he denies.
But Ms Maltby now alleges that when she complained in September 2016 to a Downing Street aide she was informed it was a pattern of behaviour, and that "the Prime Minister knows".
Mr Green, one of the Prime Minister's closest allies, was sacked on Wednesday after admitting he provided "misleading" statements about the alleged discovery of porn on his Commons computer.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Ms Malby said: "I would never, never have told my story about Damian Green if I did not believe I was exposing a pattern of behaviour of which I thought the Prime Minister was personally aware."
Ms Maltby, who is three decades younger than Mr Green, told the BBC she did not go public about her allegations initially because she thought the incident a "one-off".
The journalist claims the Conservative MP "fleetingly" touched her knee during a meeting in a pub, and a year later sent a "suggestive" text message after she was pictured wearing a corset in a newspaper.
By the time of the Cabinet Office investigation Downing Street was "already aware" of numerous allegations, according to Ms Maltby.
"Damian Green became a very, very powerful person. I was aware that there seemed to be ... an improper mixing of mentorship and sexual advance within the Conservative Party," she said.
"In his case I was aware that he was the Deputy Prime Minister and I was aware that No 10 knew about it."
Mrs May denied the claims during a trip to Cyprus on Friday.
She told reporters: "The first I learned of these allegations was when Kate Maltby wrote about them in The Times."
A No 10 source said: "The Cabinet Office conducted a thorough investigation into a number of allegations about Damian Green.
"The inquiry findings were published yesterday.
"The PM has made it clear that everyone should be able to work in politics without fear or harassment – that is why she has brought forward a new Code of Conduct for the Conservative Party, and set up a cross-party working group to make recommendations about the Houses of Parliament."
Reporting the probe's findings, Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood said that with "competing and contradictory accounts of what were private meetings" it was "not possible to reach a definitive conclusion on the appropriateness of Mr Green's behaviour with Kate Maltby in early 2015, though the investigation found Ms Maltby's account to be plausible".
When Mr Green left office on Wednesday he said he did not recognise Ms Maltby's version of events, stating: "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."