The wife of MP Brooks Newmark has reportedly left the family home in the wake of the sting in which he sent explicit photographs of himself to an undercover reporter.
Yesterday, Mr Newmark's wife Lucy, 52, appeared to have moved from the family's mansion near Braintree, Essex, to their £7million London home.
Just earlier he had said he would stand down as an Conservative MP for Braintree after the General Election next year in the wake of the tabloid sex sting scandal.
The 56-year-old resigned from his job as minister of civil society the day before the Sunday Mirror exposed his explicit messages he exchanged with an undercover male reporter, who was posing as female Tory PR worker 'Sophie Wittams'.
Dad-of-five Mr Newmark previously told the Chronicle he hoped to stay on as MP, but in a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, has put his change of heart down to 'media intrusion' and the effect on his family.
He said: "I have therefore decided to stand down at the general election."
