Blunkett's ex-lover in health scare

David Blunkett's pregnant ex-lover was rushed to hospital after collapsing from stress, her husband revealed today.

Stephen Quinn said he worried his wife Kimberly could give birth prematurely because of Mr Blunkett's threat of a paternity suit.

Mr Quinn's dramatic revelation came as it was claimed that their family doctor had written to the Home Secretary to warn him to drop any legal action until after the birth.

Mr Blunkett is understood to want a legally verifiable DNA test to confirm he is the father of both the unborn baby and Mrs Quinn's two-year-old son William. Mrs Quinn is seven months pregnant.

Mr Quinn said: "I have a wife who is vomiting, she is sick, she is losing weight. She collapsed in the bathroom and her doctor said 'Bring her in immediately,' and she spent two hours in hospital. He is obviously worried about the effect of all this on her pregnancy.

"He said, 'Really Stephen, we've got to stop this court case until after the baby is safely born'. He's obviously worried about the strain on her. He's insisting that she attends a psychiatrist." Mr Quinn added that there was a " certain fragility" to his wife.

"What we are concentrating on is just getting her through until February when the baby's due," he said. "God forbid that all this brings on a premature baby."

According to unsourced reports, the doctor has written to Mr Blunkett to ask him to halt a legal bid to win access to William and the baby.

As the controversy escalated, it was also claimed by friends of Mrs Quinn that the minister inundatedher with late-night calls during-which he played loud music down the phone. It was alleged that preliminary court action had already been started by Mr Blunkett in an attempt to assert his rights to confirm that the children are his and not those of Mrs Quinn's husband. The Home Office refused to comment on the claims but they indicated the depth of the bitterness that now exists between the former lovers.

The Evening Standard has also learned that Mr Blunkett was so wary of a controversy that he warned the Whips Office this year about his three-year affair with 44-year-old Mrs Quinn. By the time he told the whips, the affair had ended, he assured them.

Mrs Quinn's friends say she has lost nearly two stone and is on the verge of a breakdown over the publicity surrounding the affair.

The American-born publisher of The Spectator magazine has been ordered to go on maternity leave early.

A Home Office spokeswoman pointed out that Mr Blunkett's statement yesterday referred only to the implications for his public duties.

Mr Blunkett's spokesman today dismissed the allegation about playing loud music down the phone as "utter fantasy". He refused to comment on claims that the doctor had sent a letter.