A Tory MP caught up
in an internet sex scandal is to quit the Commons – after a second woman
revealed he had sent her explicit personal pictures.
In the latest blow to
David Cameron after Thursday’s stunning Ukip by-election victory in Clacton,
Brooks Newmark last night said that he will step down at the next
Election.
His announcement
comes a fortnight after he was revealed to have sent explicit photos of himself
to a male reporter posing as a woman.
Brooks Newmark (left) has announced he will step down at
the next general election after a second woman revealed he had sent her explicit
images, pictured with his wife Lucy
The second ‘sexting’
bombshell comes as a poll for today’s Mail on Sunday puts Ukip on a record 25
per cent – just six points behind the Tories and Labour, both on 31 per
cent.
If repeated in a
General Election, it would see Ukip win a staggering 128 seats, taking more than
100 from the Conservatives, and leaving Nigel Farage holding the balance of
power.
When he quit as
Charities Minister last month after admitting sending obscene photos to ‘Sophie
Wittams’, who he thought was a twentysomething Tory PR girl, Braintree MP Mr
Newmark vowed to hold on to his Essex seat.
However, his latest
humiliation has forced to him to quit politics altogether. In an astonishing and
emotional public confession in today’s Mail on Sunday, he writes: ‘In response
to what seems to be a new text-and-tell story I am standing down as an MP at the
next Election.
He was forced to resign as a minister last month after
admitting sending obscene photos to ‘Sophie Wittams’, who he thought was a Tory
PR girl
‘I was the man who
had everything... Now my political career is in ruins.
‘I have traumatised
my family and let down my constituents and my colleagues. Many will regard me as
a failure. And it is true: behind the outward facade of success and achievement,
I have been battling demons – and losing to them.’
In his resignation
letter to the Prime Minister, the 56-year-old married father of five said: ‘The
continued media intrusion into past episodes in my personal life is placing an
intolerable burden on my family. I have therefore decided to stand down at the
General Election.
‘I will continue to
serve my constituents to the best of my abilities until that time. I again
appeal to the media to respect my family’s privacy and to give me a chance to
try to heal the hurt I have caused them.’
His first humiliating
resignation as a Minister coincided with the defection of Tory MP Mark Reckless
to Ukip and overshadowed the start of the Conservative Party conference in
Birmingham.
Today’s Survation
poll will shake Downing Street, which is gearing up for a brutal fight in next
month’s Rochester by-election caused by Mr Reckless’s defection.
The most astonishing
mea culpa you will ever read, by Brooks Newmark
I was the man who had
everything. I made a fortune, married a beautiful wife, had five children, and
then fulfilled my lifelong ambition.
Ever since my school
days I wanted to be a politician. My election to represent my Essex constituency
of Braintree in 2005 was one of the proudest moments of my life. So too was
joining the Government as Minister for Civil Society.
The MP said: 'Now my political career is in ruins. I have
traumatised my family and let down my constituents and my colleagues. Many will
regard me as a failure'
Now my political
career is in ruins. I have traumatised my family and let down my constituents
and my colleagues. Many will regard me as a failure.
And it is true:
behind the outward facade of success and achievement, I have been battling
demons – and losing to them. I craved adrenaline and risk.
Stress at work drove
me to increasingly erratic behaviour. My friends warned me that I was cracking
up. I ignored them.
Late at night, I
began a series of flirtations in response to approaches from women on social
media. Deep inside, I knew I was playing with fire. Now it has consumed me and
my family.
When a newspaper
exposed one of these episodes – involving a male freelance reporter using stolen
pictures to impersonate a young female Conservative Party activist – I stood
down as a Minister.
Now, in response to
what seems to be a new text-and-tell story, I am standing down as an MP at the
next Election.
I want to concentrate
on slaying those demons – making me, I hope, a better husband and father, and
giving me a chance to contribute in some way to the country in
future.
True, I made big
sacrifices for my career, leaving a highly paid job in finance to dedicate
myself to the day-to-day concerns of my constituents in Braintree. Many of my
counterparts from Harvard and Oxford days mocked me for this.
I tried to explain to
them that I wanted to give back: using my privilege and education to help people
solve their daily problems – helping them navigate the bureaucratic maze on
issues such as welfare and housing, and ensuring that Braintree had its own
community hospital. What is the point of making millions when you can change the
lives of thousands?
But a far greater
price was paid by my family. All too often I was an absent dad, arriving home
late at night when the children were in bed. I missed family meals, holidays and
vital moments in their lives. I will never get those back.
Worse, I was
emotionally absent, seeking the buzz of achievement when I should have been
dealing with the concerns of those nearest and dearest to me: my wife above all.
The illusion of success in the Westminster bubble blinded me to reality.
Exchanging flirty pictures online is no substitute for the love and
companionship that a real marriage offers.
I still look back
with pride on my campaign to reduce youth unemployment, setting up an education
charity in Rwanda and my efforts to encourage women into public life.
Amid the wreckage of
my political career, it is some comfort to know that this work was not in vain.
These causes will remain close to my heart and I will do what I can to further
them even when I am no longer in Parliament.
Mr Newmark meeting President Bashar Assad of Syria. The MP
admitted that stress at work drove him to increasingly erratic behaviour and he
began a series of flirtations online
I will continue to
represent my constituents until the General Election in May. But I am seeking
help now. I will be beginning residential psychiatric treatment for the next few
weeks in the hope that professional help will enable me to salvage my life and
my family.
I would like to use
this terrible moment in my life to appeal to others who are ashamed of their
mental ill-health to seek help before it is too late.
I have long argued in
Parliament against the stigma which we too often attach to mental illness. But I
did not practise what I preached. I talked about my anorexia as a teenager, yet
I was never brave enough to admit first that I was suffering from depression, or
that I was lapsing into episodes of behaviour that any normal person would
regard as bizarre and abhorrent. I realise now – too late – that I need
treatment.
Many of my friends
have advised me to ‘tough this out’. After all, they say, I have not broken any
law. I have not stolen any money. Many other politicians have done far worse
things to their families – and their careers have survived and even flourished.
I have received countless messages of support – from all political quarters and
none – along these lines in recent days, and I am profoundly grateful for
them.
But for me that is
not the point. I do not want to be a battle-scarred veteran of Westminster
politics. I want to be a person who brings happiness to those around me – and
thus to myself. That can come only if I change.
I do not blame the
media for my downfall. It is for others to judge their behaviour and their
ethics.
The fault is mine
alone. If I had sought help earlier, none of this would have
happened.
But I do hope that
the media will leave me and my family alone as we try to rebuild our
lives.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2789346/sex-text-minister-brooks-newmark-stand-mp-general-election-blaming-intolerable-media-spotlight.html
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK
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