Latest News

Chris Huhne, the former energy minister and a onetime contender to lead the junior Liberal Democrat coalition partner, had steadfastly denied a charge that, in 2003, he persuaded his former wife, Vicky Pryce, to say she had been at the wheel of a car he had been driving when it was caught in a highway speeding trap between Stansted airport and London He could have been banned from driving if he admitted the offense.

Mr. Huhne's reversal at Southwark Crown Court reverberated through British politics, even though he had already stepped down from ministerial office in February, 2012.

Outside the courtroom, Mr. Huhne also announced on Monday that he was quitting Parliament, tacitly acknowledging that the charges spelled the decline of a political career once depicted as high-flying within the Liberal Democrats. Mr. Huhne lost a party leadership battle to Nick Clegg in 2007.

"Having taken responsibility for something that happened 10 years ago, the only proper course of action for me is to resign" from the legislature, Mr. Huhne said on Monday.

As recently as a week ago, Mr. Huhne, 58, denied a charge of perverting the course of justice.

Before Monday's hearing, the Liberal Democrat leader, Mr. Clegg, had called Mr. Huhne a "big beast" of British politics and said he looked forward to welcoming him back to the "top table" of British politics if he cleared his name.

The accusations relating to the speeding episode emerged in 2011 after Mr. Huhne's marriage broke up over accusations of an extramarital relationship with a public relations adviser. Citing marital coercion, Ms. Pryce, his former wife, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of perverting the course of justice.

Prime Minister David Cameron's office declined to comment on the development, saying it was a "matter for Mr. Huhne."

But the judge, Nigel Sweeney, told Mr. Huhne on Monday that, while he was being released on unconditional bail until sentencing, "you should have no illusions whatsoever as to the sort of sentence that you are likely to receive."

Mr. Clegg said on Monday that he was "shocked and saddened" by Mr. Huhne's reversal. However, he told reporters, "This is obviously an extremely serious matter and it's essential that the legal process is now allowed to run its course."

"I am shocked and saddened by what has happened, but I believe that Chris Huhne has taken the right decision in resigning,"