Conservative minister resigns over sex scandal

Brooks Newmark, the Conservative minister for civil society, resigns after being caught sending explicit photographs of himself to women over the internet.

David Cameron was plunged into a double crisis on Saturday after one of his ministers resigned over a sex scandal and another MP defected to Ukip.

On the eve of the Conservative Party’s final conference before next year’s election, Brooks Newmark quit as Minister for Civil Society after he was caught sending an explicit photograph of himself over the internet.

Sources told The Telegraph that Mr Newmark had sent the pictures to someone he believed was a woman using a social networking website, as part of a tabloid newspaper sting operation.

In a statement, Mr Newmark said: "I have decided to resign as Minister for Civil Society having been notified of a story to be published in a Sunday newspaper.

“I would like to appeal for the privacy of my family to be respected at this time. I remain a loyal supporter of this Government as its long term economic plan continues to deliver for the British people."

The married father of five, added that he was "so sorry”, after the scandal came to light.

Mr Newmark initiated a private message conversation on a social networking website and sent a graphic picture exposing himself while wearing a pair of paisley pyjamas, according the Mirror newspaper.

He sent a text message to an undercover reporter on Saturday, asking if she would like to meet him at the Conservative conference this week.

“Afternoons fairly full with speaking engagements but around late evenings. Promise we’ll meet up though. X," the MP wrote.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has accepted Brooks Newmark's resignation from his role as Minister for Civil Society.”

Mr Newmark will be replaced by Rob Wilson, a former aide to the Chancellor George Osborne.

The minister’s resignation comes just hours after Mark Reckless, the MP for Rochester and Strood, announced on live television that he was defecting to the UK Independence Party.

He became the second Tory MP to defect to Ukip since the 2010 election, after Douglas Carswell announced last month that he was standing down from the Conservatives.

Mr Reckless told delegates gathered at the Ukip conference in Doncaster that he had not taken the decision lightly but claimed the Conservative leadership was "part of the problem that is holding our country back".

Appearing on stage to a rapturous reception at the Ukip's conference, he said voters felt "ripped off and lied to".

At the Newmarks' six storey townhouse, worth several million pounds, in Belgravia in central London, dogs could be heard barking from inside but nobody answered the door on Saturday night.

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