Separated they stand, but divided they may fall

It will take considerable tenacity for the culture secretary Tessa Jowell to rise in the bearpit of the Commons today to deal with the ordinariness of culture questions, only 48 hours after separating from her husband of 28 years.

One of her closest friends in politics was incredulous that she should contemplate such an ordeal. "She should take a break and have some days off. She cannot be in a proper state to work." Those who spoke to Ms Jowell over the weekend said she was "distraught" about the break-up of her marriage. Her mood is said to be angry and let down, rather than bitter towards her husband.

But as a close political friend said yesterday: "If she wants to carry on in the cabinet, and she is determined to do so, she cannot run away. She has to carry on." She plans to mark international women's day on Wednesday with a speech.

The toughness displayed by her decision to separate has left some of her closets colleagues, if not shocked, then baffled. Another said of her decision to separate from her husband: "I am really confused and upset. It is a horrible." The colleague says: "There comes a point in in every marriage when your partner acts as a complete pillock. You get gobsmacked by the stupidity of what they have done, and you realise they have feet of clay, and then you make a cost benefit analysis of 20 years or more shared life, and carry on.

"But in Tessa's case their marriage is an institution, and she adores her children and stepchildren. The perplexing thing is that she says David is still innocent of taking money from Berlusconi and it makes me think she is having a brainstorm. If there is a hidden explanation, it is hidden for me. She has just gone though this week of hell and then dumps him."

Rumours abounded yesterday that Downing Street, through the former communications director Alastair Campbell, had forced Ms Jowell to choose between her marriage and her career. The culture secretary did meet Mr Campbell on Friday, which has fuelled the speculation.

Mr Campbell has some form in this regard. He played a brutal role in telling the then foreign secretary Robin Cook that he had to choose between his career and his marriage - also of 28 years - after details emerged of his infidelity in 1997. The Sunday Mirror yesterday suggested that Mr Campbell had been at it again. The separation was an attempt to ring-fence Ms Jowell, the paper said.

Others in No 10 on Saturday lent credence to the suggestion when they spoke on Ms Jowell's behalf to the Sunday newspapers stressing the separation might be temporary. But yesterday Ms Jowell's political allies denied that Mr Campbell had played a catalytic role in the split. As a long standing friend of Ms Jowell and Mr Mills, friends said that if anything he had advised her against separating.

Others who have spoken to her yesterday say the problem has been brewing for longer than people realise. She had also become frustrated at the way in which he was handling the controversy, including giving random interviews down the mobile phone at a time when he had promised to speak to no-one. But as late as Thursday, and in conversation over the weekend, she was willing to swear that she was sure that her husband had not taken a £350,000 bribe from Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister and the subject of possible proceedings against Mr Mills as early as next week in Rome.

It seems the letter Mr Mills sent to the Dubai authorities seeking a licence to practice as a lawyer, in which he cited his close relationship with the prime minister and Ms Jowell, as culture secretary, was the last straw. Mr Mills had given assurances in public and private that he had not involved her or embarrassed her in any way in his business dealings, let alone the prime minister, but the Dubai letter, unearthed by the Daily Mail last week, shows this was not the case. Ms Jowell told friends at the weekend: "He broke trust." A No 10 source said: "She had been told things that emerged not to be true, and not told things she should have been told, and it starts to make you wonder what else might be there."

In the past she has frequently, her friends say, blamed herself for making her husband the target of the Italian prosecutors. She believed the Italians were gunning for him because he was married to a prominent British politician, rather than because he was close to Berlusconi. But over the past few weeks as the court case drew closer, and then the allegations of breaching the ministerial code arose, she has looked more closely at his financial dealings. It was only last week as she faced the inquiry by Sir Gus O'Donnell, the cabinet secretary, that she spent days going through their personal papers. She discovered he had failed to disclose the £350,000 fee to the taxman.

For years, as the corporate lawyer, the money and the mortgages were deemed his responsibility. They did not even have a joint bank account. A family source said: "She knew about some things, but she did not know the intricate details or some of the political implications." Another life-long friend said: "David is charming, urbane, very talented and has a huge range of interests, but his clients are not ones you or I would choose. They are in Tessa's own words fruity. He is an engaging chancer. It just makes Labour look awful."

It seems privately the doubts had started to gnaw at her. Within 24 hours of being cleared by Tony Blair of breaching the ministerial code, she had decided to separate, citing a breakdown in trust.

On Friday Mr Mills was preparing to make a statement through his solicitor setting out the details of the nature of the mortgage on their home in 2000. It was a typically byzantine explanation by Mr Mills, leaving more questions than answers. But on what was described by friends as a tearful day, Ms Jowell felt the betrayal had been too great. She insisted the solicitor's statement include an announcement of separation. Mr Blair was told that afternoon. Hasty arrangements were made. With Mr Mills fighting to save himself from jail, and Ms Jowell battling to save her career, they cannot afford to start briefing against one another. For even in separation, divided they will fall.