The wife of prisons minister Crispin Blunt is 'completely traumatised' by his admission that he is gay.
The couple have separated after nearly 20 years of marriage following Mr Blunt's shock confession on Friday that he has been living a lie.
Friends say Victoria Blunt - a former banker, and the daughter of a wealthy American - felt betrayed because she had sacrificed her career and used her fortune to support her husband's political life.
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| Family ties: Crispin Blunt with wife Victoria| in 1997 when he was elected as an MP' |
She is completely traumatised' said a source
'She has devoted most of her married life to playing the politician's wife and it was all built on a lie.
Another source added: 'She gave up everything for him. She is the perfect MP's wife and would attend every fete and garden party when Crispin was at the Commons.
'She did it all for free. She was never employed by him.'
Mr Blunt, MP for Reigate in Surrey since 1997, went to such lengths to conceal his homosexuality that he risked claims of hypocrisy.
His election literature and profile on the Conservative party website sold him to voters as a husband and father of two.
And in a Parliamentary debate, he once claimed homosexuality is 'not equivalent to heterosexuality'.
To cries of 'shame' from Labour MPs, Mr Blunt, 50, said: 'It is also clear that there
is a much greater strand of homosexuality than of heterosexuality which depends for its gratification on the exploitation of youth.'
Friends have revealed Mr Blunt took the decision to come clean about his sexuality after Liberal Democrat Treasury minister David Laws was forced to resign earlier this year when it emerged that he had been paying taxpayers money in rent to his gay lover.
They say Mr Blunt realised that his continuing 'deceit' to his family and constituents over his sexuality was more damaging than the admission he was gay.
'The Laws episode was decisive,' says an acquaintance of Mr Blunt, 'because Crispin saw that the fire storm which descended was nothing to do with Laws' homosexuality and everything to do with his deceit.'
Mr Blunt, uncle of actress Emily Blunt, felt 'envy' as the Laws affair unravelled. 'He saw and envied David's liberation,' says the acquaintance.
'It started him thinking that he could do it as well. It was like watching a dry run of what he knew he would have to go through. Laws is like a new man since he came out.
'For the first time he's taken his boyfriend back to his constituency.'
The news also came as a complete shock to Mr Blunt's privately-educated children, 18-year-old Claudia and Freddie, who turned 16 last month.
Both children have just sat their GCSEs and A-levels, another factor believed to be involved in the timing of Blunt's revelation.
'Crispin had battled with his conscience for years because of his wife,' the acquaintance said.
'His children are now well into their teens. He realised that it was now or never.
'He's felt an awful lot of guilt at the hurt that his announcement has caused within his family but more than anything now, he feels utter relief.'
But while Blunt's confession has torn his family apart, politically, one insider described it as 'the best move he's made since he became an MP'.
'In David Cameron's Conservative Party now it's not exactly a problem to be gay. It's almost to be welcomed,' said the source.
'Despite his recent gaffe, his position as a minister is safer now than ever before.
'Cameron won't sack a gay because he wants more gays in the cabinet.'
Related Article:
About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channeled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”
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