Ashford MP Damian Green has firmly denied claims of inappropriate behaviour with a female journalist after it emerged he has been referred to the Cabinet Office for investigation.

Downing Street confirmed there was to be an inquiry into allegations made by a journalist Kate Maltby in The Times that he behaved inappropriately towards her.

The claims are to be investigated by cabinet secretary Jeremy Haywood.

Mr Green said the allegations were deeply hurtful and untrue and he had never made any advances on the journalist.

“It is absolutely and completely untrue that I have ever made any sexual advances on Ms Maltby.”

But the MP has been urged by a fellow MP to stand aside from his role as First Secretary while the investigation was being carried out.

Conservative MP Anna Soubry said the allegations against the first secretary of state were “very serious”.

“I would say there is an investigation, by some mechanism you stand out, you remove yourself from this position, until the conclusion of that investigation,” the MP told Sky news.

She added that “in normal circumstances” someone facing allegations such as those made about Green would have been suspended.

Mr Green said he had known Ms Malltby since 2014 when she had contacted him as a member of a Tory think tank.

He had met her twice yearly for a drink as friends and nothing more, he added.

“This untrue allegation has come as a complete shock and is deeply hurtful especially from someone I considered a personal friend.”

The MP was made First Secretary of State earlier this year - in a role which makes him effectively the deputy to the PM - and is a personal friend of Theresa May, who was at university with him.