Pizzas galore!

Theresa May, the Shadow Leader of the Commons, wrote to Sir Gus to ask that he investigate whether the transaction amounted to a conflict of interest with Ms Jowell’s role as a member of the Government.

"I think the question that is difficult... is how much she actually knew about these transactions that were going on," she said.

"I don't know what she knew about those financial transactions but all I'm asking is, has the ministerial code been adhered to, particularly obviously in relation to any requirement to notify in relation to financial transactions?"

William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said that any inquiry should consider the role of civil servants at Ms Jowell’s department in issuing a statement on Mr Mills’s behalf denying wrongdoing in the affair.

Mr Hague said: "There are one or two questions to answer. We are not going to get involved in a legal case that is nothing to do with politics, but we will want to know whether any Government resources have been used — as has been alleged in one or two newspapers — in dealing with this."

Ms Jowell is one of Tony Blair’s closest Cabinet allies. When asked today if she retained the Premier’s full support, his official spokesman replied simply: "Yes."

The spokesman went on: "Tessa Jowell has said that she believes that she hasn’t done anything that conflicts with her interests as Secretary of State and she’s kept within the ministerial code."

The spokesman declined to say whether Ms Jowell’s insistance that she had not broken the code had been endorsed by the Permanent Secretary, saying he would not give "a running commentary".

He added: "Tessa Jowell has talked, and continues to talk, to her Permanent Secretary about these matters. It is a matter first and foremost between the Secretary of State and the Permanent Secretary."

The Liberal Democrat peer Lord Goodhart said today that a minister was not personally responsible for the conduct of their spouse.

"Tessa Jowell will only be in trouble over this if it turns out that she has been in some way involved in any misbehaviour by her husband," he said.

The former member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "If it (the money) was obtained improperly, if it was a bribe of some kind, and if Tessa Jowell knew about it, then I think there are problems. But not if not."

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