US senator quits over sex sting

Idaho Senator Larry Craig resigned today following his arrest for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in an airport lavatory.

He bowed to pressure from fellow Republicans worried about a scandal dimming their election prospects in 2008.

“I apologise for what I have caused,” Craig said.

Craig’s resignation completed a stunning downfall that began on Monday with the disclosure that he had pleaded guilty to a reduced charge following his arrest during an undercover police operation in a Minneapolis airport men lavatory.

Although leading members of his own party had called for him to step down, Craig resisted resigning for days, contending that he had done nothing wrong and that his only mistake was pleading guilty to a minor charge.

Craig was defiant after the arrest and guilty plea were first reported. “I am not gay. I never have been gay,” he declared on Tuesday in Boise, Idaho, with his wife, Suzanne, at his side.

He said he had kept the incident from aides, friends and family and pleaded guilty “in hopes of making it go away”.

Craig, 62, has represented Idaho in the US Congress for more than 25 years and had been up for re-election next year.