Tory minister for civil society Brooks Newmark resigns after sex scandal

[weltweit]

Susie Boniface's defence of the tactic was the first argument in the whole Question Time program where there was a clear explanation on one of the issues in the program. Grant Shapps was just a knob, Charlie Mullins was a tory knob, Julian Huppert made some sense but his shirt arms and cufflinks were way longer than the arms of his suit for me to take him seriously and Stella Creasy failed to make herself or Ed Milliband look at all good!

 

[andysays]

Staines filthers caught lying.

And not just lying, but denying they hadn't done something reprehensible and possibly illegal.

I hope they get a good metaphorical (and legal) kicking for it.

 

[brogdale]

A Conservative MP who quit as a minister over an internet sex scandal is to stand down from Parliament, claiming the media spotlight has become "intolerable".

Brooks Newmark, who served as minister for civil society and founded the Women2Win campaign group to encourage more women to become Conservative MPs, had exchanged suggestive pictures over the internet with a reporter posing as a young Tory PR woman.

In a letter to the Prime Minister David Cameron, the American-born MP for Braintree - who resigned as a Tory MP on the eve of the Conservative party conference - said he would quit at the general election next May.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...Sexting-MP-Brooks-Newmark-quits-politics.html

see ya wouldn't wanna be ya.

 

[brogdale]

C4 News just said that he's going because the Sun has said it will publish "further revelations" tomorrow.

 

[butchersapron]

see ya wouldn't wanna be ya.

There were reports on twitter earlier from the fawkes circle that there is another sex scandal he's been caught in.

edit: ah see C4 and others have now finally reported this.

 

[brogdale]

There were reports on twitter earlier from the fawkes circle that there is another sex scandal he's been caught in.

edit: ah see C4 and others have now finally reported this.

snapchat?

 

[brogdale]

No-one to blame but himself...again....before the whinging kicks off..........again...

He wrote: “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.

“I have no one to blame but myself and take full responsibility for my own actions.

 

[weltweit]

Can't help wondering what the other issues are, but not wondering enough to persuade me to but that awful rag!

As it happens there was a Sun on my table at a café earlier today so I had a look in it, seems Clarkson has a column in it now .. he was making excuses about Argentina

 

[phildwyer]

He looks like the lost Milliband brother.

 

[Jollity Farm]

You won't have to buy any awful rags, it'll be all over the internet as soon as the ridiculous lump of paper hits the stands.

Probably just some boring affair, though, probably with some intern thirty years his junior or something.

 

[Greebo]

He looks like the lost Milliband brother.

Halfbrother, at a stretch. Not that it makes him any less of a toerag.

 

[Lurdan]

I guess he figured he might be as well hung for a sheep as for a lamb

 

[Lurdan]

It seems we have truly misjudged him however - in a long statement to the Mail he reveals that he hasn't really been sending pictures of himself to women - he has been Battling Demons

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.

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.

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.

The tears are literally rolling down my cheeks. . .

 

[phildwyer]

Is it really all that gratifying to send naked pictures of yourself to people on tinternet?

Must say I can´t see the appeal myself. But if the likes of Newmark are throwing up million-quid careers for it, it must be fucking brilliant.

Who wants one?

 

[hash tag]

I feel for the wife and kids; they must be horrifed, shamed and embarassed.

 

[butchersapron]

I feel for the wife and kids; they must be horrifed, shamed and embarassed.

At having a tory MP for a husband and father?

You'd think so but the wife at least bought into it.

 

[brogdale]

I feel for the wife and kids; they must be horrifed, shamed and embarassed.

since 05/05/2005

 

[andysays]

I feel for the wife and kids; they must be horrifed, shamed and embarassed.

According to The Sun website, she has now "quit home". I'm guessing that means she's left him.

That's just a link to their homepage, BTW, the full story is behind a paywall

 

[brogdale]

Just have to wonder what revelation will be required to prompt a Braintree by-election.

 

[Greebo]

According to The Sun website, she has now "quit home". I'm guessing that means she's left him. <snip>

That may just be tabloid spin on "his wife and children were so fed up with the press parked out on their doorstep that they've gone to stay with relatives until we find somebody more profitable to hound".

Is it really all that gratifying to send naked pictures of yourself to people on tinternet? <snip>

Who wants one?

nekkid thread-----------------------> And no, that wasn't a request.

 

[agricola]

Meanwhile, in completely unrelated news...

The new legislation will mean that images posted to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter will be caught by the offence, as well as those that are shared via text message.

Images shared via email, on a website or the distribution of physical copies will also be caught, the MoJ said. Those convicted will face a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

The offence will apply to photographs or films that show people engaged in sexual activity or depicted in a sexual way or with their genitals exposed, where “what is shown would not usually be seen in public”.

Good of them to use revenge porn as a cover for their own uncoveredness

 

[brogdale]

Meanwhile, in completely unrelated news...



Good of them to use revenge porn as a cover for their own uncoveredness

Does "Sophie" qualify as a "former partner"?

And, more seriously....htf do they intend to define that? I mean (up to) 2 years in nick...really?

 

[newbie]

bit hard to see how Sophie can say the pics were circulating without her consent if she posted them on the internet for anyone to see.

 

[agricola]

Does "Sophie" qualify as a "former partner"?

And, more seriously....htf do they intend to define that? I mean (up to) 2 years in nick...really?

It will be very difficult for them to define what a "relationship" is in that context, so they will have to make it apply to everyone.

 

[brogdale]

It will be very difficult for them to define what a "relationship" is in that context, so they will have to make it apply to everyone.

...and aren't there already laws to cover that sort of behaviour, then....?

 

[andysays]

That may just be tabloid spin on "his wife and children were so fed up with the press parked out on their doorstep that they've gone to stay with relatives until we find somebody more profitable to hound".

nekkid thread-----------------------> And no, that wasn't a request.

Indeed it may be. I should probably have said I'm guessing The Sun are trying to suggest that she's left him, rather than that she actually has. My (sort of) bad.

Has anyone got access to the entire Sun story?

 

[PoorButNotAChav]

There have been new developments on this story since yesterday's Sun on Sunday revelations about Brooks Newmark sending naked pictures of himself to a woman. Today's Sun says that he had a two-year affair with another woman starting in 2012 and she didn't know that he was married. The affair ended two weeks ago after she found out that he had been sending pictures to "Sophie".

http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/former...legations/policy-and-politics/article/1316894

And Milo Yiannopoulos has written an article for Breitbart claiming that when Brooks Newmark was a government whip "he was responsible for spreading the most appalling, malicious and untrue story" about a Tory MP which "involved homosexuality and a disgustingly explicit lie about my friend's health, and the reason the latter was in hospital" which he told to "at least one senior journalist at a national newspaper and at least one other Tory MP".

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-...ish-outpouring-of-sympathy-for-Brooks-Newmark

 

[marty21]

Just have to wonder what revelation will be required to prompt a Braintree by-election.

Tories won't want that!

 

[butchersapron]

We're all allowed four mistakes!! Come on you pious moralisers what if it was someone you liked?

Well, you get the picture with that one.

 

[andysays]

It's difficult to know which aspect of this story to find most sickening - there are so many to choose from.

I think it's a toss up between his sudden concern for his family

Mr Newmark outlined his intention to leave Parliament in a letter to David Cameron, saying stories about his personal life had been placing "an intolerable burden on my family".

"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," he wrote.

and his utterly cynical use of the mental health card

He said "stress at work drove me to increasingly erratic behaviour" and that friends warned him he was "cracking up", but said he had ignored them...

My mental health contributes to my questionable behaviour at times, but I wouldn't dream of trying to use it as an excuse as Newmark is doing here.

...he will go into residential psychiatric care for the next few weeks...

and as someone who has been waiting for appropriate psychotherapy on the NHS for over a year now, I'm really chuffed to be reminded of just how the class divide works even in this area.