Simon Hughes is now out of the running for the Liberal Democrat leadership, rival candidate Chris Huhne has said.
Following revelations about Hughes' private life, Huhne claimed the contest was now a two-horse race between him and Sir Menzies Campbell.
He said journalists and bookmakers regarded Hughes as an outside hope after he came out as a bisexual and apologised for misleading the public in a string of previous denials.
"It's a fact that in terms of the perceptions of both journalism and the bookies it is now effectively a fairly close race between me and Ming. So to that extent that it a consequence," Huhne said.
"But it certainly is not one that I sought and I had obviously moved ahead of Mark [Oaten] before all these revelations. This was something that I very much do not want to will on the party."
Huhne, originally seen as an outsider in the battle to succeed Charles Kennedy, said there were things in his past that he would prefer not to come out, but nothing that could derail his campaign.
"I discussed this obviously with the family and with friends and decided that I could withstand the scrutiny," he told ITV's Jonathan Dimbleby programme.
"I am certainly not saying I am a saint, far from it and I have been knocking around a bit at the age of 51 so there are all sorts of things out there...when I was a student, a flaming radical, revolting teenager, out on a student demo and all the rest of it. I certainly wouldn't be doing that today."
