Love cheat MP defends the use of family photos in election leaflet (From Daily Echo)

Love cheat Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne defends the use of happy family snaps in Lib Dem election leaflet

in News By Simon Carr, Eastleigh Chief Reporter

A LOVE cheat Hampshire politician has defended an election leaflet portraying him as a happily married family man.

Eastleigh MP and new energy minister Chris Huhne came under fire for using photographs of himself cuddling his wife on their wedding day, feeding his child and posing for a family portrait while he was having an affair with a younger woman.

One snap was captioned: “Family matters so much to me.Where would we be without them?” Another read: “Getting married does not seem like 26 years ago.”

As news broke that he was leaving his wife of 26 years, constituents and opposition members branded the use of these shots “dishonest” and “deplorable.”

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Echo Mr Huhne said: “This was a biography going over my whole 55- years of life, a large part of which has been devoted to my family.

“Though I’m separating from my wife I still love my children as much as ever.”

Friends close to the multi-millionaire Cabinet minister last night told this newspaper his wife and children rarely featured in publicity material and Mr Huhne had never tried to preach about family values or claimed to be virtuous in this aspect of his life.

A Liberal Democrats party spokeswoman said of the affair: “It is a personal matter and has got no bearing on his position.”

However, she refused to comment of the election leaflet.

The granddad has left Vicky Pryce, 57, with whom he has three children, for 44-year-old divorcee Carina Trimingham.

His wife, chief economic adviser to the department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, is thought to have learned of the affair after photographers snapped the pair leaving Mr Huhne’s Eastleigh home after spending the night celebrating her birthday.

It is thought they met when Miss Trimingham worked on the MP’s second unsuccessful leadership bid in 2007 that saw him narrowly lose out to Nick Clegg.

She also handled his recent election campaign where he increased his majority to almost 4,000.

The campaigns director at the Electoral Reform Society promoted The Who, Top of the Pops and Big Brother in her previous role as entertainment guru. She also worked for Sky News and the BBC.

Mr Huhne, who owns seven properties and is thought to be worth £3.5m, was a national journalist and later made his money as a city economist before entering politics.

Since being elected in 2005 he has had a meteoric rise and has just been named the tenth most powerful member of the Cabinet.

He was criticised in the expenses scandal after it was revealed he had claimed £119 for a trouser press and chocolate Hobnobs biscuits.

He later paid back the cash for the trouser press and pointed out his claims were among the lowest in the country.