The truth: Jemima and me

Imran Khan is not a happy man. In fact, he is apoplectic. The former international cricketer is currently in the ancient Pakistani city of Multan, commentating for the local Channel Ten sports channel on Pakistan's latest Test match against India.

But barely concealing his rage, and speaking exclusively to the Evening Standard, Khan chooses his words very deliberately. "I have put up with this for nine years. It is absolute nonsense." He stops and repeats himself. "Absolute nonsense."

You could hardly expect him to say otherwise, of course. For the source of his anger is renewed speculation this week that his wife, Jemima - daughter of the late Sir James Goldsmith and his wife Lady Annabel, and formerly a great friend of the Princess of Wales - has formed a close friendship with none other than the A-list bachelor himself, actor Hugh Grant.

Jemima, presently living in London with her two young sons, is said to enjoy the company of the Love Actually film star. According to gossip, the pair have met at private functions at friends' homes in London.

Grant had also been invited to Jemima's 30th birthday party last month at Annabel's, the Mayfair nightclub named after her mother, at which Khan was conspicuously absent. Jemima, so a friend says, is enjoying being wined and dined, although there is nothing untoward going on.

Thousands of miles away in Pakistan and Khan, 51, is scathing. "My wife and my children are coming out here for the Easter holidays on Sunday. Jemima is studying abroad, she is doing a master's degree. She will be moving back to Pakistan after that."

Khan does not mention Grant by name; but he says that he and his wife are currently busy finishing plans for a new home, a place he is adamant they and their children will live in together. "We are building a farmhouse up near Islamabad," he says patiently, "and that will be completed hopefully this summer. Jemima is helping to design that. As I said, all this speculation is absolute nonsense."

Khan revealed that he will return to Islamabad this weekend to prepare for his family's arrival and the welcome opportunity to spend time together as a family. The last time he saw his wife is thought to have been shortly before Christmas. However, it is still unclear how long the family holiday will last.

As he himself acknowledges, this is not the first time that the Khans have had to mount a vociferous defence of their relationship. Last December, in a very public move to quash rumours at the time, Jemima took the unusual step of printing an emphatic denial in all the Pakistani daily newspapers. "Both Imran and I have become accustomed to these spiteful rumours," she said at the time. "However, that does not make them less hurtful for those around us."

It is a public stance supported by those who know the couple well. Yousuf Salahuddin, Khan's best friend in Pakistan, said at his home in Lahore: "Basically, I don't think there is any problem between them. He tries to laugh about these things but it is not always easy to do so."

At the heart of the story, of course, is the implication that there is no smoke without fire: that one of the most glamorous couples in the world are about to finally call it a day, a move which would astound Pakistan, where Khan remains head of his own political movement, and is something of an iconic figure.

In Britain, some newspapers have even gone so far as to suggest that Jemima has become frustrated with life in a strictly Muslim country, preferring a more relaxed existence in London where she is also close to her own family.

Yet, however strong their marriage may be, they remain two people from different and at times conflicting backgrounds: Jemima the socialite, a fixture at discreet parties in Belgravia, and Khan, the committed Muslim and politician, determined to make his own mark in his homeland.

Jemima is studying for a master's degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. For that reason, she says, she is unable to spend much time in Pakistan. Khan, meanwhile, remains busy overseeing the construction of their new house, and is at the building site almost every day when he is not commentating on cricket or distracted with politics.

It is certainly true that Jemima, who converted to Islam for her marriage to Khan, was concerned about her personal safety in Pakistan, and especially that of their two sons, Sulaiman, six, and Kasim, three. "There was a time," says Salahuddin, "after 9/11 when things were a little turbulent in Pakistan. I am not sure but that could have been a reason for her not to be here. Obviously the rumour-mongering has started but she is a wonderful wife and a wonderful mother."

So far, so stable ... except that what is also true is that Khan - once a playboy dating fashion models in Knightsbridge clubs - does lead a curiously insular and peripatetic lifestyle, something not helped by his wife's frequent absences.

In an ironic sense, he resembles his wife's very good friend, Diana - adored in his own country, barely able to walk the streets without being mobbed and, yet, a figure who returns home alone each night.

To understand Khan's anger is to appreciate how hard he has tried to transform his image from the good-looking playboy so beloved of gossip columns in the Eighties. With his wife absent from his side, at home Khan has deliberately turned his back on much of the social life in Lahore. "You do not often see him at the more frivolous events," another friend said. "He wants to present an image of himself as a serious politician."

To that end, his recent attempts to win favour with the Pakistani electorate have included appearances in the Lahore market, handing out bundles of currency to the poor. "He gave away vast amounts," one politician said.

But however hard he tries to establish himself as a formidable force within Pakistan, others are less than admiring. Many of his fellow countrymen are suspicious of his motives - especially women. As one leading Lahore socialite told the Evening Standard: "The more liberal among the Lahori women find him a bit of a chauvinist. He is always penning articles in the papers suggesting that women should know that their place is in the home and that they should be good mothers. But he is so handsome, most of us are prepared to overlook this."

It is not hard to have some sympathy for him. Constantly watched by the media in his homeland, and monitored by his enemies desperate to find a chink in his moral armour, Khan is in something of an impossible position. Only last week, he was a guest at his friend Salahuddin's house, in the old quarter of Lahore.

He was dressed in shalwar kameez (a traditional Pakistani male costume), while the other partygoers were mainly wearing Western clothes, and was said to have been quiet - "dignified" commented one guest - as the other 400 invitees danced into the small hours.

Jemima, of course, was very much not with him, preferring to socialise with the London elite rather than the equivalent in Lahore. Their curious marital arrangement is one which Khan says suits them.

As far as he is concerned, it is love actually, however strange that may seem to others.

Additional reporting by Tom Coghlan in Lahore.