MARK Oaten has broken his silence after his alleged six-month fling with a male prostitute, pledging to rebuild his marriage, and to work hard to win back the confidence of the people who elected him.

In an exclusive interview with the Hampshire Chronicle, the married father-of-two said he understood how people "might feel let down and shocked about what they've read".

Speaking at his Westminster office, where he returned to work on Tuesday, he chose his local newspaper to speak about his feelings for the first time since sordid tabloid headlines forced him to stand down as Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman.

Mr Oaten, who went to ground immediately after the allegations surfaced in the News of the World, told the Chronicle: "I wanted some time, which I was able to get with my wife and the children, and I hope that Hampshire Chronicle readers would respect that I needed a week to do that.

"Now I feel that I want to get back to work."

But Mr Oaten remained tight-lipped on whether the allegations were true, although he did say: "We've said that it's not a fully accurate description, but I don't really want to get into the individual allegations.

"I've apologised for errors of judgement that I've made, and asked for time for my family and myself to work them through.

"Beyond that I've felt that it's private and I'm not going to start discussing allegations that have made."

Mr Oaten said he now wanted to get back to work and "regain the confidence" of his constituents.

He added that it was too early to say if he would stand for election again in Winchester, but wanted to stay in the job for now.

"My priority at the moment is to focus very hard on the constituency and certainly, if local people want me to, then I want to carry on working for them."

He said the demands of that job took up too much time, and he wanted to spend more time with his family, and on dealing with local issues for his constituents.

"I think I also want to learn to relax a bit more, and learn to value the things that are really important in life."

He added that the scandal had underlined that his family life is more vital to him than his political career.

"If I've learnt nothing else over the last 10 days, it's that my personal life and my family is the most important thing, and I regret not getting the balance right over the last few years."

He added: "Last week's Hampshire Chronicle editorial comment challenged me to come back and get on with the job -- and that's what I want to do."

* See this week's Hampshire Chronicle for the full interview with Mr Oaten.