UK foreign secretary William Hague said today that he and his wife decided to go public with details about their private life because of untrue allegations circulating on the internet.
The Conservative minister shocked Westminster yesterday by releasing a frank statement in which he denied having had an “improper” relationship with a male aide and insisting his 13-year marriage was secure.
He revealed that his wife, Ffion, had suffered a number of miscarriages as they tried to start a family.
The aide, Christopher Myers (25), has quit his post as special adviser, citing the pressure put on his family by media inquiries into the allegations.
Mr Myers (25) resigned from his £30,000-a-year job after British blogger Guido Fawkes revealed that Mr Myers and Mr Hague had shared twin-bed hotel rooms during the election campaign.
Yesterday, Mr Hague said the allegations that a homosexual relationship ever existed were “untrue and malicious”. Denying that he had ever had a relationship with any man, Mr Hague said British media organisations had repeatedly tried to claim his marriage was in difficulties, largely on the basis that they had no children.
Mr Hague faced a series of questions about his private life today as he and German opposite number Guido Westerwelle held a press conference.
Mr Hague insisted he had no more to add to his statement yesterday, but gave an insight into why he had decided to go public.
“Yesterday, I made a very personal statement, which was not an easy thing to do. I am not going to expand on that today,” he said.
“My wife and I really felt we had had enough of the circulation of untrue allegations, particularly on the internet, and at some point you have to speak out about that and put the record straight.”
Mr Hague admitted to "occasionally" sharing hotel rooms with Mr Myers during the election campaign. "Neither of us would have done so if we had thought that it in any way meant or implied something else," he said.
"In hindsight, I should have given greater consideration to what might have been made of that, but this is in itself no justification for allegations of this kind, which are untrue and deeply distressing to me, to Ffion and to Christopher."
Downing Street said Mr Hague continued to enjoy the “100 per cent support” of the prime minister.