BRITAIN: Simon Hughes is continuing his campaign for the Liberal Democrat leadership after being forced to admit having had homosexual as well as heterosexual relationships.
His rivals, Sir Menzies Campbell and Chris Huhne, offered their backing, saying Mr Hughes's admission in yesterday's Sun newspaper should not affect his leadership campaign.
Mr Hughes also won a warm endorsement from Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner whom he defeated in a bitterly fought byelection in Bermondsey 23 years ago.
Mr Hughes had previously apologised for the homophobic elements in the Liberals' 1983 campaign against Mr Tatchell, who was Labour's candidate.
Yesterday Mr Tatchell said that while he had suspected at the time his opponent was also gay, he had not held a grudge in the intervening years, and praised Mr Hughes for having "the most progressive record on social justice, civil liberties and the environment" of all the Lib Dem leadership contenders.
In interviews yesterday Mr Hughes apologised for giving previously misleading answers to questions about his sexuality. But he also told Sky News his personal experience over recent days had left him with a better understanding of "why we need a liberal Britain", which he also hoped he could now better enunciate.
Mr Hughes had apparently abandoned his attempts to keep his private life private after the Sun presented him with "pretty incontrovertible" evidence that he had phoned a gay chat line. However, he said he had decided to answer questions which had dogged him for years "in a more straightforward manner" after being confronted by journalists with a number of largely untrue stories about his private life.
Mr Hughes told BBC Radio 5 Live it had been a "fairly torrid" week for him and his party following Charles Kennedy's enforced resignation after admitting a battle with alcohol, and Mark Oaten's departure from the leadership race amid revelations about his relationship with a male prostitute. Mr Hughes confirmed he had considered withdrawing from the leadership race, as he had carefully considered whether he should stand in the first place.
"It is a balanced decision I have always had to take," he said. "I took a decision that I would seek to keep my private life.
"I have held to that through all the elections I have fought and it has sort of been sustainable. But there comes a time when it isn't sustainable.
"I hope for those listening and for other people in the year 2006, they won't have to make the choice I did and I hope these issues won't be as difficult in years to come."
When asked in an interview last week if he was gay, Mr Hughes replied: "The answer is no . . . But if it was the case, which it isn't, I hope that would not become an issue."
Yesterday he said that since he had had relationships with women and men he had not wanted to get into "stereotyping" or "pigeon-holing." However, while the reply "wasn't untrue", it was "clearly misleading", for which he apologised.