Jewish MP Brooks Newmark has claimed he felt “mentally raped” after he was caught sending naked pictures of himself to a reporter posing as a young female activist in a newspaper sting.

The Tory member for Braintree, who is married with four children, said he had suffered “emotional trauma” and let himself down badly over his involvement in the affair. He was forced to resign as a government minister last month after a story was published in the Sunday Mirror.

He told the Colchester Gazette on Friday: “It’s as though somebody drilled a hole in your head and mentally raped you, that’s what it felt like: somebody raping your mind because things you thought were private were no longer private, that is the emotional trauma one feels.

“For what I did I blame nobody but myself. But how I felt as a result of it was like my mind had been violated and it is beyond humiliating because you never imagine this would happen to you.’’

The MP, who is standing down at the next election, also revealed that he had been diagnosed with depression after seeking psychiatric help following the scandal.

He also said the condition may be a relapse of anorexia, which he had as a teenager.

He said: “On the surface, I have achieved everything I wanted to achieve,” he said, adding: “I feel I have let myself down really badly and I feel that very deeply.”

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) is investigating the Sunday Mirror for the sting even though the complaint against the newspaper has been dropped.