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Married Mr Oaten, 41 and the MP for Winchester, dropped out
of the Lib Dem leadership race this week.
In his statement Mr Oaten said: "I have stood down as
home affairs spokesman for the party. I would like to
apologise for errors of judgement in personal behaviour and
for the embarrassment caused, firstly to my family but also
to my friends, my constituents and my party. I will
not be commenting further at this time and would now ask for
some space and personal privacy for me and my family."
Lib Dem chief whip Andrew Stunell said Mr Oaten had stood
down "with immediate effect" as home affairs
spokesman.
"He has apologised to his family. He has apologised to
his constituents who he always served well," Mr Stunell
said.
"He and his family now need to have their personal
privacy respected."
Keith Gladdis, Whitehall editor of the News of the World,
justified the paper's story.
He said: "Mark Oaten is an MP, an MP who has been
elected on a platform of being a family man.
"He's also an MP who's a front bench spokesman - a
front bench spokesman who then went on to stand as a
potential leader of the Liberal Democrat party. That is
someone who quite clearly has a public life."
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