New Lib-Dem sleaze scandal as energy secretary leaves wife for love!

The 55-year-old Lib Dem MP ended his 26-year marriage over a long-term affair with media adviser Carina Trimingham, 44.

A former head of publicity on BBC TV's Top Of The Pops, she has been described as jolly, vivacious but "intimidating".

Mr Huhne said: "I am in a serious relationship with Carina Trimingham and I am separating from my wife."

His wife, senior civil servant Vicky Pryce, 57, apparently knew nothing of the affair until the politician faced media inquiries over the weekend. It is believed Mr Huhne has been conducting the affair with divorcee Ms Trimingham, campaigns director of the Electoral Reform Society, for more than a year.

The latest furore follows the expenses scandal that forced Lib Dem Treasury Chief Secretary David Laws to resign last month. He quit after it was revealed he had paid £40,000 of his Commons second-home allowance to his male partner.

Mr Huhne, who built up his fortune as a City economist, has reportedly been meeting Ms Trimingham at his constituency home in Eastleigh, Hampshire, while his wife was at the family's south London home. Sources said there was no question of him being asked to resign as Energy and Climate Change Secretary.

He met Ms Trimingham when she worked on his campaign team when he was fighting the Lib Dem's leadership campaign in 2007. He finished runner-up to Nick Clegg. She was also his press manager for the 2010 election when he retained his seat in Eastleigh.

Senior Lib Dems are said to have known about the affair for some time in a scandal which echoes former Labour Foreign Secretary Robin Cook's affair with his secretary Gaynor Regan, exposed in 1997, months after Tony Blair came to power.

Source:  Daily Express