William Hague denies relationship; aide quits

After days of media innuendo and political gossip about William Hague and his special adviser, 25-year-old Chris Myers, the story has finally surfaced online and been met by an extraordinary statement issued on the Hague's behalf - and by Myers resigning from his job.

"Any suggestion that the Foreign Secretary's relationship with Chris Myers is anything other than a purely professional one is wholly inaccurate and unfounded," the statement read.

However, it did not address the fundamental claim contained in a posting yesterday afternoon by the political blogger Guido Fawkes - namely that Hague and Myers shared a hotel room during the recent general election campaign, when Myers was serving as Hague's driver.

What the statement did address was the comment Fawkes made regarding 'the morning after' the hotel stay: "One witness told Guido that the room sharing couple's body language at breakfast was eye opening."

This story has been building for days, as The Mole hinted on Monday  following junior minister Crispin Blunt's sudden announcement that he was leaving his wife and "coming to terms with his homosexuality".

Hague, 49, married his wife Ffion in 1997. The talk in TV and newspaper office corridors has been that at least one paper was planning to run a story claiming Hague and Myers' relationship was more than that of a Cabinet minister and his special adviser.

Two weekends ago, the Mail on Sunday published a page of photographs of Hague and Myers, both dressed in casual clothes, strolling along the Victoria Embankment together.

The article questioned why the Foreign Secretary needed a third special adviser when his boss, David Cameron, had promised to cut excessive spending on ministerial aides.

The Mail reported that Myers was educated at Yarm School and after Durham University worked as a constituency activist for Hague. "He shares Hague's broad northern vowels," the report explained, and was a natural addition to Hague's 'Tyke mafia' - the group of young Tories who share his Yorkshire background.

The Mail did not explain how or why the pictures, which were taken last year, had surfaced now.

A 'Tory source' told the Mail: "Chris is incredibly bright and great fun and he and William get on well. Chris gave William great support when they did regional visits in the election campaign."

It was on one of these visits that Guido Fawkes claims they shared a hotel room.

'Fawkes' - the alias of Paul Staines - wrote yesterday: "It is surely inappropriate for someone of William Hague's status to be sharing a night in a hotel room with his driver - you only have to consider how absurd it would be if his driver were female to see it is completely bizarre even if there were two beds.

"The appointment of Hague's former driver to his private office is controversial because 25-year-old Myers has no expertise for the job, no relevant experience and his only qualification for the position is his closeness to the Foreign Secretary.'

The Foreign Office is currently responding to a series of freedom of information requests from Paul Staines about Myers' work duties, the foreign trips on which he has accompanied Hague and details of his salary, which is met by the civil service.

However, Myers has today resigned from his post in Hague's office, over the "untrue and malicious" allegations made against him. ·