EX MP MARK

FOR former Liberal Democrat MP and one-time rising star Mark Oaten, his battle with his sexuality led to a very public downfall.

Outed by a newspaper over a sixmonth liaison with a male sex worker, the married MP blamed a mid-life crisis due to stress and hair-loss, and retreated to repair his family life with wife Belinda and their two young daughters.

He resigned at once from the party’s front bench and stepped down as an MP at the next General Election.

Now, 15 years later, Mark, 57, says he is living his “second life” – after marrying the man he met six years ago.

Describing himself and Belinda as “the best divorced couple that we know”, he tells how both his daughters – now in their 20s – spoke at his wedding and have welcomed husband Chris, 39, as part of their “dysfunctional family”.

COMPLEXITIES

When he and Chris met on Tinder, Mark reveals he was still not out to his mum – or his daughters.

He said: “I was dealing with a lot of complexities about being gay.

“At that point my mother didn’t know, my children didn’t know.

“There was a lot of other baggage but by the time I met Chris, I knew I was gay.”

Property investor Chris said he knew it was something special from their first date – lunch at his local village pub.

But he says Mark was “sceptical” to start with. Mark said: “I’d had flings with other guys, and they didn’t have the same personality as Chris at all. They were people that wanted to party.

“I needed somebody who’d embrace my children and deal with what we now describe as our dysfunctional family.”

After realising Chris was that person, he said the next hurdle was to tell his family “and be able to come out openly”.

Mark recalled: “The point at which I was able to tell my girls, and to tell my mother, was a really important moment.

“Once you’ve told your kids and your mother, nothing else matters.

“There were no tears. I was in a restaurant with the girls and I dropped it gradually into the conversation because I felt that’s how they would’ve liked it.

“They’re both absolutely lovely about it and insisted on speaking at our wedding. My mum’s taken to Chris too. She’d found it hard with the horrible headlines, so she’s just glad I’ve come out of it the other side and found somebody like Chris.”

They got engaged in November after five years together, Mark proposing on a muddy woodland walk with their two dogs at one of Chris’s favourite spots near their Surrey home.

When they exchanged vows last month, Mark says they had Belinda’s blessing. Her sister was among the 30 guests, and after the registry office ceremony they partied in the garden of their country cottage with ribbons hanging from the trees.

He and Chris share their life with a menagerie of animals including sheep, goats, a cat, chickens and two dogs.

Mark was MP for Winchester, Hants, and the Lib Dem home affairs spokesman when his world imploded.

A Sunday newspaper gave a lurid

The point where I could tell my girls was really important MARK OATEN ON TELLING HIS FAMILY HE WAS GAY

account of the time he had spent with a 23-year-old who had advertised his services in a magazine, and romps they allegedly shared with a third man.

Sitting alongside his new husband, Mark said: “I have to remind people that I didn’t break any rules or any laws. I broke my marriage vows and I have huge regrets about that.

“I was working under huge pressure. I was unhappy and I found this desperate urge to explore my sexuality and escape from this crazy world of Westminster.

“Of course I regret a lot of the unhappiness that it caused people.

“But I’m not going to beat myself up about all of this because, in a weird way, out of something awful I managed to get my life together – and I’m happier now than I was back then.” He said the fallout