Brendan Cox, the husband of the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, has stood down from two charities he set up in her memory after newspaper reports emerged of alleged historical sexual misconduct.
He has now ended his involvement with the Jo Cox Foundation and More In Common, which was named after a line in Cox's maiden speech in the House of Commons in 2015.
In a statement, Cox said:
I want to apologise deeply and unreservedly for my past behaviour and for the hurt and offence that I have caused.
In the aftermath of Jo's murder I promised that I would dedicate my life to two things, firstly loving and protecting our children and secondly fighting the hatred that killed Jo.
In the past few days allegations from several years ago have resurfaced that makes concentrating on both of those tasks much more difficult. For that reason, while away over half-term, I decided to step down from my current public roles for the time being.
I am committed to holding myself to much higher standards of personal conduct in the future.
Cox himself confirmed the news on Twitter:
I take responsibility for my actions and will hold myself to a higher standard in the future.
The Mail on Sunday reported last week that Cox had been referred to the police after an alleged incident at Harvard University, while he was working for Save the Children in 2015. He quit the charity the same year.
Cox's lawyers told the paper last week that he denied the "spurious allegations". He maintained on Saturday he does not "accept or recognise" the claims made by the alleged victim in the Harvard incident.
The newspaper also reported that Cox was the subject of a complaint regarding another alleged incident, in July 2015.
Cox's statement also said: "While I do not accept the allegations contained in the 2015 complaint to the police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I do acknowledge and understand that during my time at Save the Children I made mistakes and behaved in a way that caused some women hurt and offence.
"This was never malicious but it was certainly inappropriate. In the past I have focused on disputing what I felt was untrue in the allegations, but I realise now that it's more important to take full responsibility for what I have done."
Cox said in an interview with the Mail on Sunday: "I know that there are instances when I was working at Save the Children that did make people feel uncomfortable and that they felt was inappropriate.
"And I think that charge is a fair one. There will be people who will put the worst possible spin on this and assume it was malicious or a deliberate act.
"Others will think I behaved unacceptably badly. But that doesn't necessarily mean I'm innately a bad person or that it's not possible to learn from those mistakes."
Jo Cox's sister, Kim Leadbeater, said in a statement on Sunday that the family were standing by her widower: "As a family we will support Brendan as he endeavours to do the right thing by admitting mistakes he may have made in the past, and we respect him for doing so.
'We all make mistakes. Brendan is a wonderful father and I have no doubt about the happiness he brought to Jo."
Jo Cox was gunned down by a right-wing terrorist in her parliamentary constituency of Batley and Spen in West Yorkshire in June 2016.
The Jo Cox Foundation was set up to highlight issues on which she campaigned, "from the plight of innocent civilians in Syria to the despair caused by loneliness and social isolation in the UK".
More in Common was set up "to understand why advanced democracies failed to respond more effectively to the refugee crisis and its impact on domestic politics".