Jowell 'seeks divorce' from scandal husband

Tessa Jowell is on the brink of divorcing her husband David Mills, it was claimed today.

Reports said the Culture Secretary was to consult lawyers after conceding that her 27-year marriage to Mr Mills had collapsed.

The pair split after Mr Mills was accused of corruption in Italy involving the country's former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.

He will go on trial in the new year.

The couple have sold their £950,000 house in Kentish Town, north London, and Miss Jowell has bought a small flat in Highgate, into which she will move next month.

Mr Mills will live in the Warwickshire farmhouse that was the couple's weekend home, which he owns.

They separated in March after the disclosure that Mr Mills had paid off part of a loan on their London house with a £344,000 payment which Italian prosecutors allege was a bribe from Mr Berlusconi for giving a favourable testimony in court.

Mr Mills denies the money came from Mr Berlusconi.

The couple now see each other "infrequently", according to a friend, but talk regularly on the phone as they have two grown-up children, Jessie and Matthew, and grandchildren.

Miss Jowell was dragged into the affair when it emerged that she had signed papers connected to a loan secured on their London home, which was subsequently paid off with the help of the alleged bribe.