Brooks Newmark is to resign as an MP after The Sun on Sunday revealed he was having a two-year extra-marital affair.
Newmark resigned as a minister two weeks ago after he sent naked pictures of himself to a freelance journalist who set up a fake Twitter profile pretending to be a “twentysomething Tory PR Girl”.
New press regulator, the Independent Press Standards Organisation, is currently deciding whether or not the Sunday Mirror broke the Editors’ Code by publishing the undercover sting against Newmark.
A key aspect of that investigation will be deciding whether or not the reporter was justified in using subterfuge.
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The latest story from The Sun suggests that the first Newmark investigation was more than a 'fishing expedition'.
The woman who had the two-year affair with the MP has spoken extensively to The Sun and said that he spotted her on Facebook and “seduced” her whilst never revealing that he was married.
The Sun reports that he sent the woman 40 revealing photos of himself, some of the which the paper has published.
It reports that the affair only ended after the Sunday Mirror sexting story was published two weeks ago.
Writing in The Mail on Sunday, Newmark spoke of "a series of flirtations in response to approaches from women on social media".
He said: "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 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."
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