RICHARD EDEN: No more WFH for Milburn's wife after £1m business split

He stunned his colleagues by stepping down from the Cabinet – a move many thought cost him a decent chance of one day becoming prime minister.

At the time, Alan Milburn explained his decision to resign as Health Secretary was due to his wanting to spend more time with his family.

But, 23 years since he left Tony Blair’s government, it seems the Labour grandee may be seeing rather less of one relative.

I refer to Milburn’s wife, Ruth, with whom he has two adult sons. The couple have been together since 1990, though they only married in 2007 – some 11 years after their youngest, Danny, was born.

And I can now disclose that Ruth, 63, who qualified as a GP before specialising in psychiatry, has resigned her directorship in the private consultancy firm she established with Alan, 68, in 2006.

Ruth has also redeemed her 231 class B shares in AM Strategy, which offered advice to businesses including healthcare firms. In March, when she cashed them in, her shares were valued at more than £1million according to recently filed documents at Companies House.

It’s a sum which gives a literal validation to the words Milburn uttered just months after leaving government. ‘My life is a million times better, with much less worry and much more time,’ he reflected.

The accounts disclose AM Strategy holds more than £4.6million in accumulated profits, including £793,000 from the last financial year.

Milburn declines to comment on whether Ruth’s departure from the firm presages – or, indeed, mirrors – an end to their marriage.

But he has plenty to get his teeth into regardless. Aside from leading a government review into unemployment, including cracking down on the ‘at-home’ culture of youngsters, he’s also an adviser to private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital.

All a far cry from Milburn’s youth as a £20-a-week assistant at Days of Hope, a Marxist bookshop known in Newcastle as Haze of Dope.

My private life has been a bit of a mess, reveals Tim Rice

Sir Tim Rice’s celebrated musicals include Evita, Chess and The Lion King – but the Oscar-winning lyricist has admitted his love life has been more tangled than any theatrical plot.

‘I think my private life has been a bit of a mess,’ says Sir Tim, 81.

‘Nothing serious, I hope, but going through one or two relationships, and this, that and the other, I think you do get to appreciate other people’s points of view. You should.

‘I don’t think that’s affected my work. I think the other way round – I think the problems one’s had, the ups and downs, have come out in the work.’

Sir Tim has two children with his wife of 41 years, Jane. They separated in 1990 after his affair with singer Elaine Paige, but it’s never been reported if they divorced.

He also has a daughter Zoe, 28, with ex-lover Nell Sully, and a fourth child, Charlotte, nine, born in 2016 following his relationship with Cambridge-educated playwright Dr Laura Jane Foley, 44.

His other works include Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar, which he created with Andrew Lloyd Webber during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Sir Tim also has three Oscar-winning songs: Aladdin’s A Whole New World, The Lion King’s Can You Feel The Love Tonight? and You Must Love Me from Evita.

How William loves his royal Dudeness

Prince William wanted nothing to do with one man who abandoned his duties and moved to California. But a different Los Angeles slacker has seemingly impressed the heir to the throne. William is, it has been disclosed, a big fan of The Big Lebowski – a 1998 film about Jeffrey ‘The Dude’ Lebowski, who had no job, shirked his responsibilities and spent most of the day smoking marijuana. ‘It turns out he [William] is a Lebowski fan,’ says one of the film’s stars, John Goodman, who met him at the London premiere of Digger. ‘I didn’t expect that at all.’

Giving rugby a try (in pink satin shorts)

I can't see this look catching on at my local rugby club!

Emma Corrin went for a rather experimental outfit at Paris Fashion Week, pairing a blue-and-purple striped rugby shirt with thigh-high pink, satin shorts.

The star, who played Princess Diana in Netflix drama The Crown, was attending a party hosted by the label Miu Miu, for which the 30-year-old is an ambassador.

Emma’s shorts revealed many tattoos, including one on the left leg featuring the name ‘Zachary’ – apparently a tribute to boyfriend Zachary Hart.

Harry Styles’ ex-girlfriend Roxie Nafousi has made a fortune from her books about ‘manifesting’, the idea we can ‘think’ a goal into reality. Yet actress Laila Rouass is not impressed. ‘I am no longer convinced about some of what I believed,’ says the Footballers’ Wives star, 55, who’s married to snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, 50. On the advocates of manifesting, she says: ‘What evidence is there for what you’re teaching? And how much of your own success came from these methods, and what advantages did you have before you started practising them?’ 

Ben goes up a gear for anniversary

His 17-year relationship with Vanessa Feltz ended amid great acrimony, so Ben Ofoedu is doing all he can to make sure his wife is kept happy.

To celebrate his first wedding anniversary with Vanessa Brown, the Phats & Small singer, 54, bought her a £70,000 Land Rover Defender.

‘When you find the person you love, there’s nothing that you wouldn’t buy for them,’ he tells me at the VIP preview of Shocktober Fest, at Tulleys Farm in West Sussex.

‘I’ve married a lady who is into cars and I thought, “What can I get her for our first anniversary that will make a mark?”’