Conservative Party lawmaker Malcolm Rifkind quit Tuesday as head of the Parliamentary committee overseeing Britain's intelligence services and announced his upcoming retirement after being caught in a hidden-camera sting appearing to discuss swapping political influence for money.

Rifkind, a former foreign minister and one of his party's most senior lawmakers, called the allegations against him "contemptible." But said he didn't want the vital work of the Intelligence and Security Committee to be "distracted or affected by controversy as to my personal position."

Rifkind, 68, also said he wouldn't seek re-election in May's national election.

"I don't think I did anything wrong," he told reporters. "I may have made errors of judgment, but that's a different matter."

Rifkind was caught in a sting along with former Labour Party Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, also 68, who was already planning to leave Parliament in May.

The men were secretly filmed by reporters posing as representatives of a fictional Hong Kong-based communications agency allegedly seeking top U.K. politicians to join the firm's advisory board. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article11056487.html