He lied to his wife, he lied to his children, he lied to his voters,
Dennis Rice, Caroline Sutton, Terry O'HanlonMarried Tory MP has been cheating on his wife again with a teenage Soho hostess who he DENIED having an affair with just seven months ago.
Slimy Piers Merchant only escaped being kicked out of the party by the skin of his teeth after saying the stories of his sex romps with Anna Cox were "a pack of lies".
Yet three weeks after he posed for pictures as a family man with his wife Helen and two young children, the sleazy MP had rekindled his affair with Anna.
And last week, as Tory chiefs appealed at their Blackpool conference for decency and integrity, Merchant, 46, spent four sexy nights with his 18-year-old mistress.
He only bothered to spend FIVE HOURS at the conference, preferring the more ample charms of Anna...who he had encouraged to have a breast implant operation to improve their lovemaking.
The pair spent two nights together at a friend's flat in York before Merchant whisked her away to a night of passion in a four- poster bed in a hotel in the Lake District and finally a night outside Darlington.
Yet amazingly the sleazy MP, who has lied to his country, his party leader, the voters, his wife and his children has been holding secret meetings with a London-based publisher to write a book of what it is like to be an innocent victim of the "evil" media.
In April, Merchant reduced loyal party members in his Beckenham constituency to tears as he claimed, "I am whiter than white"...after Anna had told how she tied Merchant to the bed with her stockings while making love.
He denied ever sleeping with her and said it was just an innocent friendship with a young party worker. The truth was their affair had started four months earlier and amazingly it was soon on again.
Anna convinced him that she had been forced to sell her story after she was set up by a friend.
And even as he campaigned to save his seat in the General Election they met virtually every day for romance.
And passion, not politics were on the agenda when he kissed his wife and children goodbye on Tuesday as he supposedly headed for the Blackpool conference. Instead, he travelled to York to romp with Anna, who was already waiting at their pre-arranged love nest - a flat owned by his former House of Commons researcher Anthony Gilberthorpe.
As Tories explored ways of rebuilding their party shattered by sleaze, Merchant and Anna were more interested in exploring each other in the flat above an antiques shop.
With the Spice Girls' If You Wannabe My Lover blaring from the record player, they disappeared into the bedroom where Anna slipped into a crotchless fake leopard skin body she had bought especially for the occasion.
The next day they woke up late and spent the morning strolling through the streets hand in hand, stopping to kiss and cuddle.
Merchant only left his lover's side for a few hours on Wednesday to put in a low profile appearance at the Blackpool conference.
Before leaving, he helped arrange Anna's travel plans to Birmingham where she went for a check-up with the plastic surgeon who boosted her breasts to a voluptuous 36DD.
Later, she discussed excitedly with Merchant the possibility of double H implants as well as collagen injections in her lips.
The couple did not get back into York until well after midnight but they still found time and energy for another night of sex. The next day Gilberthorpe drove them to the Lake District. On the journey, Merchant's message pager went off.
The message was from his son, thanking his father for the Action Man he had bought him. Merchant then slid away to phone his wife Helen and to wish his son a happy sixth birthday.
But no feelings of guilt stopped Merchant from checking into the Borrowdale Hotel under a false name and heading straight to the bedroom w'ith Anna.
Later over a six-course dinner they whispered sweet nothings to each other before disappearing again to their bedroom.
The next day Gilberthorpe drove them back to York where they both caught a train to Durham. And while Merchant was ranting against Press intrusion at a student debate, she was waiting at a secret hotel for another night of passion.
Anna has confessed to a friend how much she loves her Merchant. He too has often told her, "I love you."
She said she was madly jealous when she saw pictures of Merchant with his wife and desperately "wanted him all for herself".
Merchant has even bragged of his delight at "tricking" everyone into believing that nothing had happened between him and Anna. He claimed that even Tory leader John Major had rallied to his side.
Last night Gilberthorpe confirmed that the MP had stayed at his York flat all week. But he refused to comment about whether Anna had been there as well. Yet staff in the antique shop below confirmed she had.
On the train journey back to London, Anna and Merchant were confronted by Sunday Mirror reporters about their affair.
While Anna disappeared into a toilet in tears he phoned his wife and told her: "I have been a fool."
But at King's Cross he refused to comment. "I have nothing to say."
Anna, who got off the train five minutes later added: "We are not lovers we are friends. Just because we enjoy each other's company doesn't mean we are having an affair."
She then broke into a torrent of four-letter abuse.
THE RIGHT DISHONOURABLE MP
Sleazy Piers Merchant told lie upon lie to cling on to his political career after young mistress Anna Cox revealed all about their sordid romps.
The MP, who two years ago warned Tories that "MPs must be seen to be whiter than white", spectacularly failed to take his own advice.
Then, when the scandal of his torrid affair with Anna first hit the headlines in the run-up to the May General Election, he arrogantly played the innocent party.
The hypocrite lashed out at newspapers, claiming the story was pure fabrication - despite lovey-dovey pictures of him kissing the teenage mistress young enough to be his daughter.
Merchant said: "You must have a very weird sense of values if you see anything wrong with me kissing a girl in the park. Anna is a very dear friend of mine and has been helping my campaign. But there is no question of us having an affair. I have never made love to her."
He dragged loyal wife Helen into the charade by kissing her at a photo-call.
Tory chiefs, already up to their necks in a mire of sleaze allegations, tried to dump Merchant. Premier John Major, his deputy Michael Heseltine, and senior MPs piled on the pressure for him to resign. Merchant had other ideas.
He threw himself on the mercy of his constituency association in Beckenham, Kent. He conned two special meetings into believing him and stayed on as their election candidate, backed with a vote of 116- 4.
After one meeting the local party vice-chairman, Councillor Rod Reed, said: "He was quite open and frank and a lot of us were quite close to tears."
Having crossed that hurdle, he threw himself into campaigning and persuaded voters to back him. Although his majority dropped to just under 5,000, he was one of the few Tories to celebrate a personal victory.
Now Piers the Con Merchant will have to explain his seedy love affair again...
Copyright 1997 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.