MP Who Was Outed in 2006 Comes Out in BBC Interview

Former Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten has come out in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live’s Emma Barnett, more than a decade after being outed by a tabloid newspaper.

Oaten was the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman for three years, until News of the World accused him of hiring male prostitutes and he was forced to resign.

At the time Oaten was married to his now ex-wife Belinda.

This BBC interview marks the first time Oaten has discussed his sexual orientation in public, “it’s been a long journey to get me to that point,” Oaten says, “I’m gay now and I’m comfortable with being gay and I’m clear about my sexuality.

“I haven’t actually said it until now in an interview. It’s something which is difficult for me to say.

“It still feels difficult for me to say, but increasingly I’m comfortable and happy about that, and feel in a comfortable place to say that to you today.

“I clearly had sexual doubts earlier on in my life, but I was very, very happily married and really, really enjoyed being a dad and married as well,” Oaten continues.

“It’s something my friends have known about now, my girls know about, and my mum… [for] the last year, year-and-a-half. I’ve got a partner, we live together.

“I have a group of great gay friends. It’s great, I can be who I am now. I just wish I’d done it earlier.”

Oaten adds that he and his ex-wife are more than amicable, that she is his “best friend,” but that the scandal was a horrendous “storm.”

“There was no chance for me to manage or handle how to tell people about this. It was there. It was about to be published in a national newspaper. There was no time to absorb this, or to tell your loved ones, ‘I’m sorry.’”

Oaten further added that he might be considering a return to politics.

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