Oaten's MP friend's public appeal

Mr Oaten quit as the Lib Dems' home affairs spokesman

Mark Oaten's former leadership campaign manager has appealed to the public to "give him space" to rebuild his life following the sex scandal revelations.

Mr Oaten, 41, quit after being exposed by the News of the World for having a relationship with a male prostitute.

Welsh MP Lembit Opik, who ran the Winchester MP's short-lived leadership campaign, remains loyal to his friend.

He said the Mr Oaten should be "given the space to separate his professional life from his private difficulties".

I hope that the public will accept that you can be a great statesman or stateswoman and still have personal issues, which really are not to do with your ability to carry out your parliamentary responsibilities. Welsh MP Lembit Opik

"And at the end the day, I am hoping that the British public and the people of Winchester will respect that difference too," added Mr Opik.

"I hope that the public will accept that you can be a great statesman or stateswoman and still have personal issues, which really are not to do with your ability to carry out your parliamentary responsibilities.

"So he's dealing with that at the moment and I hope that people will give him space to do so."

Father-of-two Mr Oaten resigned as home affairs spokesman, following newspaper claims that he had a relationship with a 23-year-old man.

He then apologised to his family and appealed for privacy.

Mr Oaten's resignation from the party front bench came just weeks after Mr Kennedy quit as party leader after confessing to alcohol problems.

When he dropped out of the leadership race last Thursday, he apologised for "errors of judgement in personal behaviour".