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A former top aide to Prime ­Ministers Tony Blair and John Major has been jailed for seven years for raping a sleeping woman.

Mark Adams, 56, private ­secretary to the Labour and Tory chiefs in the 1990s, was convicted today of an attack on the night of the 2015 general election.

The victim, in her 20s, had fallen asleep on his sofa in Blackheath, south east London, as he stayed up late watching the General Election result - after he had spent the day leafleting for the Battersea seat.

She “froze with fear” when she woke to find him raping her on his sofa bed.

Adams pinned her down saying: “Shush, shush, come on.”

He tried to worm out of it by meeting her at a cafe the next day and insisting he could not remember.

The victim said he got her the morning after pill and made her feel he was “her friend”.

Prosecutor Catherine Farrelly said: “He’s highly manipulative... a classic example of a politician. He never answers anything in a clear way.”

(Image: PA)

In a victim impact statement read in court, his victim said: “I hardly recognise the person I was before.

“I remember the whole thing and regularly have to re-live it in my head.”

She added that she suffered paranoia and had an alarm fitted in her bedroom, and an eating disorder she had beaten has now returned.

Sentencing at Woolwich crown court, Judge Jonathan Mann QC said: “You did not have the courage to admit what you had done and lied to the police and did everything you could to discredit her.

“This brings to an end your aspirations and political career.”

Adams showed no emotion as he was convicted and sentenced.

He will have to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.