As if Tessa Jowell didn't have enough on her plate with the spiralling budget for the London Olympics, Mandrake hears that she has financial woes closer to home as well.

The buyer that her estranged husband David Mills had found for his country home in Warwickshire has pulled out because of all the tabloid newspaper headlines about the illegal gipsy site scarcely 200 yards from the property.

It is a serious setback for Mills because he has already bought another property which he has partly financed with an expensive bridging loan. 

The house, on the outskirts of Shipston-on-Stour, was put on the market for £895,000 early this year.

Mills, a corporate lawyer, accepted an offer and the sale was well advanced, but I hear that last week the would-be purchaser decided to withdraw his offer after mulling over the newspaper headlines.

It couldn't have helped that a local councillor described the gipsy site as a "nightmare holiday camp". Mills has been warned it could take several years to evict them.

When Mandrake inquired, a weary Mills told me: "I am not discussing it as it will not be helpful."