Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has admitted having an affair with one of his secretaries.
In a statement Mr Prescott said he regretted the relationship, which is thought to have ended about 18 months ago.
Mr Prescott said that he had discussed the matter with Pauline Prescott, who he married in 1961, and said she was devastated.
Downing Street said it was a private matter and that Mr Prescott had the full support of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
A report in the British newspaper, the Daily Mirror, said that Mr Prescott had a two-year relationship with 43-year-old Tracey Temple. They began meeting in secret at his Whitehall flat after an office party in 2002.
Ms Temple began working with Mr Prescott, 67, when she was appointed as his assistant private secretary, responsible for organising his diary, the paper said.
Ms Temple was reported to have previously worked as a personal diary secretary for the former Northern Ireland Secretary, Mo Mowlam, who died of cancer last year.
