Disgraced former cabinet minister Chris Huhne has used the first instalment of a new weekly column in The Guardian to suggest a conspiracy in the Murdoch-owned press was behind his downfall.

Former Energy Secretary Huhne was jailed in March alongside his former wife Vicky Pryce for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after admitting that she took the punishment for speeding points on his behalf.

His marriage was destroyed in June 2010 when the News of the World revealed that he was having an affair with his former press secretary Carina Trimingham. The criminal prosecution for the speeding points was prompted by articles in the Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday in May 2011 based on off-the-record conversations with Pryce.