Damian Green ‘offered to pay DUP adviser from Tory funds’
2 min read
Damian Green was set to pay a senior DUP employee out of Conservative Party coffers after a civil servant refused calls for them to be funded by the Government, it has been reported.
According to The Times, Theresa May’s de facto deputy was in talks to pay the member of staff to ensure the smooth running of the Tory-DUP “co-ordination committee”.
The paper says the Northern Irish party had called for the position on top of the confidence and supply deal that had been reached when the Prime Minister lost her majority at the election.
However the proposal is said to have been turned down by the Government’s head of propriety and ethics, Sue Gray, who works in the Cabinet Office - Mr Green’s own department.
It is claimed that Mr Green and DUP leader Arlene Foster held talks following Ms Gray’s intervention and it was agreed that the Conservatives would foot the bill.
But Tory MPs and a party donor were apparently furious at the suggestion and in the end no arrangements were made, the paper adds.
The revelation comes days after Mr Green addressed the unionist party’s conference in Belfast.
His and Tory chief whip Julian Smith's attendance at the event came as The Sunday Telegraph revealed a “new deal” for the DUP to support the minority Government after June 2019 is due to start in the spring.
The Times say Downing Street did not comment on the discussions nor on whether Mrs May knew of Mr Green’s offer, but said that the proposal had not resulted in any payments going ahead.
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