The married Tory MP and the love child he’s hardly ever seen
THE tangled private life of a married Tory MP was laid bare yesterday.
Huw Merriman, 44, fathered a love child after an affair with his assistant soon after he was elected to Parliament.
The little boy is thought to be 20 months old – but Mr Merriman has seen him only a few times since his birth, sources say.
The child’s mother, Dr Henrietta Morton-King, 29, worked as an aide in his Westminster office and continued the affair as she completed her medical training at a hospital close to his constituency of Battle and Bexhill in East Sussex.
Mr Merriman’s wife Victoria, the mother of their three daughters, is said to be devastated by the betrayal but is thought to be standing by him.
The affair is said to have begun shortly after Mr Merriman was elected to Parliament in May 2015. Dr Morton-King, known as Hetty to friends, gave birth to a son in October 2016. Mr Merriman’s name is not on the birth certificate and the space for the father’s name is empty.
A source told The Sun: ‘Huw and Hetty started the affair while she was working as his assistant and it carried on after she moved to finish her medical training at Conquest Hospital, near Hastings. She later gave birth at the same hospital.
‘The relationship with Hetty is now over. Huw has stayed with his wife who is fully aware of the situation.’ A friend added: ‘There is no hos- tility towards Huw from Hetty or her family. They understand his place is with his wife and family.’
Mr Merriman, a former barrister at collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers, married Victoria in 2001.
The MP has previously been accused by a former colleague at Lehman Brothers of harassment.
Lawyer Patronia Campbell, 50, told a tribunal two years ago that they had spent the night together in 2011. She claimed he told her he was ‘turned on’ by her legs and wanted to marry her.
Miss Campbell, who was made redundant in 2014, also claimed she was subjected to two-and-ahalf years of bullying by Mr Merriman after she refused to have an affair.
She abandoned her £250,000 claim against the MP and the bank seven days into an employment tribunal.
The City lawyer told the Mail at the time she abandoned her claim because of the fear of huge legal costs if she lost.
Afterwards, Mr Merriman said the ‘personal accusations’ made by Miss Campbell were ‘untrue’. He said no money had been paid to the claimant.
Dr Morton-King attended the University of Bristol where she studied medicine.
She then specialised in aesthetic medicine at North Cumbria University Hospitals and on Harley Street in London. Dr Morton-King then took a career break to work for Mr Merriman.
She lives with her parents in a £250,000 cottage in the village of Sedlescombe, near Hastings, and works at a beauty salon providing Botox-style treatments.
Yesterday her family told the
‘His wife is devastated’
Mail that she did not want to publicly discuss the affair.
The cottage is about 20 miles from Mr Merriman’s detached family home in a country lane in Mayfield, East Sussex. His fivebedroom property is estimated to be worth £1.1million. Two cars could be seen in the drive – a Citroen C4 and a Land Rover Freelander – and another, a Mini Cooper, in a garage. Mr Merriman did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
Mrs Merriman’s father David Powdrill declined to comment at his home three miles away in Heathfield.