Davies: Media "rumours and lies"

In an emotional personal statement to the House of Commons, he said media intrusion had added to the agony he had endured since leaving the cabinet.

And he included a glancing reference to a traumatic childhood that included brutality at the hands of his late father - something that was only made clear in a television profile broadcast soon after his statement, but pre-recorded some months ago.

BBC Political Editor Robin Oakley assesses Mr Davies's Commons statement

In his statement to MPs Mr Davies said the legal process prevented him going further into the details of the incident, but he apologised to the House for any embarrassment caused.

He thanked Tony Blair "for his personal support and solicitude" and told the chamber he could not have got through the "agonising" events of the last week without the support of his wife, Christine, and daughter Angharad.

Davies: Thanked his family and Tony Blair for their support

Mr Davies resigned his cabinet post following what he described as a "lapse of judgement" after meeting another man on Clapham Common the previous evening.

He initially appeared to want to try to cling on to his position as leader of the Welsh Labour party - a position that would have virtually guaranteed him the job of first secretary in the principality's assembly.

But by the end of the week he was forced to abort this hope also, amid increasing speculation about his private life.

'Stream of rubbish'

Highlights from Ron Davies's Commons speech

He told the Commons the shock of the events had been added to by "media intrusion into my private life."

He said the press had "reported as fact a stream of rubbish. Rumour and lies have been asserted as truth."

The park where Mr Davies met his assailant is known as a pick-up area for gay men and to be used by drug dealers.

The former Welsh secretary has repeatedly denied he was seeking either of these when he went for a walk on the common.

Newspaper columnist Andrew Marr: Davies "shooting the messenger"

He told MPs: "The right to privacy belongs to all citizens."

"You cannot allow powerful people to bully the weak or abuse their power," he said, and asked: "How could it improve democracy if our lives, our influences and relationships were laid out for public titillation?"

Mr Davies told MPs: "We are what we are. We are all different, the products of both our genes and our experiences. MPs are no different from the society we represent."

Conservative MP Gerald Howarth: "Questions still unanswered"

He said the past week had vividly demonstrated the need for the more tolerant and understanding society for which he had been working, adding: "Not for the first time in my life, I have been badly beaten and hurt."

It later emerged that this was an allusion to his childhood and treatment at the hands of his late father.

" I believe my defences are strong enough to see me through this very trying time," the Commons statement went on.

Davies: Life scrutinised by the media

He finished his short statement on a determined note: "From adversity can come strength. That will be so in my present circumstances. I worked hard to change the face of politics and government in Wales.