The statement issued by Crispin Blunt's office denied any third-party involvement. Photograph: Tom Hevezi/PA
The Conservative prisons minister Crispin Blunt has announced that he had separated from his wife and was "coming to terms with his homosexuality".
The MP, who has represented Reigate since 1997, denied that he was involved in any other relationship and pleaded for his family's privacy to be respected.
Earlier this summer the newly appointed minister was caught up in a bruising row with Downing Street after he gave a speech on penal reform that was seized on by tabloid newspapers.
Blunt was later said to have been rebuked by officials from No 10 for proposing a relaxation on rules governing fancy dress parties and comedy workshops in prisons. He was also reported to have annoyed David Cameron by referring to the prime minister's membership of the Bullingdon Club at Oxford University.
The Friday afternoon timing of Blunt's announcement about his sexuality prompted speculation that a weekend paper had been given information and was planning to publish a story about his private life.
The statement issued by his office said: "Crispin Blunt wishes to make it known that he has separated from his wife Victoria. He decided to come to terms with his homosexuality and explained the position to his family. The consequence is this separation.
"There is no third-party involvement but this is difficult for his immediate and wider family and he hopes for understanding and support for them. The family do not wish to make any further public comment and hope that their privacy will be respected as they deal with these difficult private issues."
Blunt, 50, was married in 1990. The couple have one son and one daughter. He became a parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice in May after the formation of the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition government.
Blunt's constituency website does not carry news of his separation but did make prominent mention of his prison speech in July which it described as being "widely misreported".
The chairman of Reigate and Banstead Conservative constituency party, Andy Mountney, said that he believed the statement had been issued at a time chosen by the family. "We remain very supportive of him as our MP and that has been the gist of all the phone calls I have received from party members.
"As far as I understand the government regarded this as a personal matter and are supportive of him [continuing as a minister]."
Blunt went to Durham University where he was president of the union society and later served as a captain in the 13th/18th Royal Hussars. He was stationed in Cyprus and Germany. He resigned his commission in 1990 and contested his first parliamentary seat in West Bromwich East in 1992. He later became a special adviser to Malcolm Rifkind, first at the Ministry of Defence and later the Foreign Office.
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