'British Weiner' Quits Over Paisley PJs Photo

Britain's Conservative Party kicked off its annual conference with a healthy round of embarrassment: The party's minister for civil society has stepped down amid an Anthony Weiner-like sex scandal, reports the BBC. Brooks Newmark, who is married with five children, resigned from his post after it emerged that he had swapped explicit photos—including one of him exposing himself in paisley pajamas—with "Sophie," an attractive young party activist who was really a male freelance journalist, the Independent reports. The journalist apparently posted pictures of a Swedish model on the fake Twitter account he used to chat with the lawmaker.

"I have been a complete fool," Newmark says. "I have no one to blame but myself. I have hurt those I care about most." The scandal—which has raised concerns about possible entrapment, notes the AP—hit the party just a day after one of its MPs defected to join the anti-EU UK Independence Party in the second such defection in the space of a month. Meanwhile, British retailer Marks & Spencer has now completely sold out of paisley pajamas, Metro reports. (More Brooks Newmark stories.)