Major breaks silence over Currie

Major caused 'embarrassment' for his family, he said

Ex-Prime Minister John Major has told of his deep shame over his affair with flamboyant former health minister Edwina Currie.

He broke weeks of silence in a letter to autograph hunter Andrew Broughton in which he described the embarrassment he had caused his family.

I remain deeply ashamed that my behaviour put me in a vulnerable position

John Major

It followed a note of support from Mr Broughton, who has been writing to the Tory politician for 14 years.

Mr Major went to ground after Mrs Currie published her diaries which include the explosive revelation that the pair had a four-year liaison between 1984 and 1988.

'Mortified'

But in his letter to Mr Broughton, Mr Major said: "The warmth of your words is appreciated more than I can say.

"As you can imagine, these past few weeks have been mortifying.

"I remain deeply ashamed that my behaviour put me in a vulnerable position that has led to such embarrassment for my family."

Mrs Currie has been round the media circuit promoting her book

Mr Major signed the note: "With all good wishes, John M".

Mr Broughton, 37, from Mackworth, Derbyshire, is in regular contact with celebrities and public figures.

He once sent Mr Major a photograph of the 1926 England cricket team as a gift.

'Decent man'

He told the Daily Mirror: "Mr Major always replies with a personal touch.

"He looks like a decent family man and I don't think what happened with Mrs Currie will entirely shatter that image."

Mrs Currie stunned Westminster with her disclosures that she and the former prime minister had been lovers while they were both married in the 1980s.

Mr Major immediately retorted that their affair was the thing he was "most ashamed" of in his life.

The damning remark upset Mrs Currie, who in her diaries tells how his touch had turned her "heart over" and how she lost weight so the former prime minister "would have the best".

Mrs Currie has since appeared in whirl-wind tour of radio programmes and newspaper articles to promote her book, which she claims rewrites history.