UK Culture Secretary urged to step back from media regulation after escort affair

UK Culture Secretary John Whittingdale was on Wednesday under pressure to recuse himself from press regulation after he was revealed to have had an affair with an escort.

Several newspapers were aware of the relationship, but chose not to run it on the basis that it was not in the public interest. Critics of the media have argued that the story was spiked because the newspapers wanted to use it as leverage against Whittingdale in case he introduced stiffer rules on press regulation.

Shadow culture secretary Maria Eagle said it had left him "vulnerable" to pressure from the press.

Whittingdale (pictured) was not a minister when he had the relationship, and was unaware of his ex-partner's profession when he met her through a dating website. He ended the liaison when he was told a tabloid newspaper was ready to run the story.

He told the BBC he the relationship took place between August 2013 and February 2014.

"She was a similar age and lived close to me. At no time did she give me any indication of her real occupation and I only discovered this when I was made aware that someone was trying to sell a story about me to tabloid newspapers. As soon as I discovered, I ended the relationship,” he said.

"This is an old story which was a bit embarrassing at the time. The events occurred long before I took up my present position and it has never had any influence on the decisions I have made as culture secretary."

The four newspapers were The People, owned by Trinity Mirror, the Daily Mail and General Trust's Mail on Sunday, News UK's The Sun and the former tabloid, The Independent , now a web-only service.

Britain's tabloid press has been in the spotlight since the phone hacking scandal that revealed newspapers had been accessing the mobile phone voicemails of private individuals. It led to the closure of the Rupert Murdoch's News of the World and the formation of the Leveson inquiry into press standards.