By politics.co.uk staff

Senior Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne has left his wife for his ex-press secretary.

The 56-year-old energy and climate change secretary abandoned Vicky Pryce, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ chief economist, for 44-year-old Carina Trimingham, who he has been in a relationship with for a year.

“I am in a serious relationship with Carina Trimingham and I am separating from my wife,” Mr Huhne said in a statement.

His 26-year marriage to Ms Pryce brought three children and one grandchild, as well as two other children from Ms Pryce’s previous marriage.

Ms Trimingham now works for the Electoral Reform Society. She worked briefly for Mr Huhne during his unsuccessful campaign against Nick Clegg for the Lib Dem leadership in 2007, when the pair are thought to have met.

The revelation about another Lib Dem’s private affairs, following the outing of ex-Treasury chief secretary David Laws, is the latest to emerge following the formation of the coalition government.

Mr Huhne is unlikely to face pressure to resign over his affair. But he and his party will be hoping there are no further disclosures about the unstable private lives of its senior politicians.