WHEN David Mills, the husband of Tessa Jowell, looks at himself in the mirror, he claims that he sees “a complete idiot, but not a crook”.

But even as the partner of one of Tony Blair’s closest Cabinet colleagues pleaded his innocence to a Sunday newspaper, the extraordinary saga of the international lawyer, now facing charges that could result in three years in prison, took a turn for the worse.

First on Sunday Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, who is alleged to have given the lawyer £350,000 to “protect” him in two trials in 1997 and 1998, accused him of tax avoidance, in effect disowning the husband of the Culture, Media and Sport Secretary.

Then yesterday Mr Mills’s alibi — a Naples shipping magnate who the lawyer claims gave him the £350,000 at the heart of the investigation — was called into question. The newspaper Corriere della Sera printed a leaked document that appears to show Diego Attanasio, the shipbuilder in question, denying the claim.

He went on to suggest that Mr Mills’s close proximity to 10 Downing Street helped his professional life. “I remember giving Mr Mills some blank documents and other items.

“I accept that having such total faith in Mr Mills may seem unusual, but you must understand his social status. He is a qualified lawyer, with a lovely office in the centre of London, and he is the husband of one of Tony Blair’s most senior colleagues. He was a person who you could trust completely.”

The allegations against Mills arise out of an investigation by Italian authorities into two trials in 1997 and 1998 in which Signor Berlusconi was accused, but not convicted, of bribing tax investigators and making secret political donations. Friends say that he has been caught in the crossfire of a political prosecution as Mr Berlusconi fights for his political life ahead of elections in April.

Prosecutors will decide whether to bring charges against Mr Mills and Signor Berlusconi within the next fortnight.

But the implications could spread beyond just Mr Mills, and the Tories already scent blood. Last night Theresa May, Shadow Leader of the Commons, called for the Government to come clean about the links between Ms Jowell, her husband, Mr Blair and Signor Berlusconi. Mr Mills was among guests to have dined at Chequers with the Prime Minister, according to data released under the Freedom of Information Act last year.

In 1997 an outcry followed a decision by Ms Jowell, then Health Minister, to scrap a ban on tobacco sponsorship for Formula One after it was revealed that Mr Mills had been a director of the motor racing firm Benetton Formula One. He also wrote to Baroness Symons, then Foreign Office Minister, for advice to help to arrange a deal selling aircraft to Iran after sitting next to her at a dinner party at which he accompanied his wife. But he said that the sale did not go ahead and that he was granted no preferential treatment.

In May last year Ms Jowell was accused of breaching the ministerial code after Paddy Feeny, the most senior press officer at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, issued a verbal statement and then e-mailed a written statement on Mr Mills’s behalf.

There could also be ramifications for the Labour party. Last week it emerged that Ms Jowell would be in charge of Labour’s election campaign for London borough councils in May. The party is under threat amid fears of a mid-term protest vote.

The Italian lawyer of Mr Mills last night denied that his client had accused Alfredo Robledo and Fabio De Pasquale, the prosecutors investigating the case, of forcing him to make a“false confession”. Federico Cecconi quoted Mr Mills as saying: “The prosecutors did not extort anything from me. I never expressed myself in such terms.”