There was another echo with the past yesterday when newspapers were briefed that the Home Secretary's marriage was in trouble, not least because of the pressures caused by spending so much time away from home – the one in the constituency that is. Tessa Jowell, the Olympics minister, announced the separation from her husband David Mills as news of criminal charges against him and her closed involvement in his finances emerged. The sympathy generated by her separation was thought to have saved her Cabinet post. Today Miss Jowell and Mr Mills, who has been given a jail sentence in Italy for accepting a £350,000 bribe, spend many weekends together.