Dame Tessa leaves £1.6m estate to husband after losing cancer battle
FORMER Culture Secretary Dame Tessa Jowell left almost £1.6 million in her will to her husband.
Dame Tessa’s entire estate was left to lawyer David Mills, from whom she separated for several years after he was caught up in a corruption scandal involving the former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The couple announced their split in 2006 but they were later reconciled, and Mr Mills supported her during her fight against brain cancer.
Probate records reveal that her will was drawn up in August last year, three months after her diagnosis. She died in May this year, aged 70. After legal expenses, her estate was £1,592,962. No inheritance tax would have been payable because the duty on assets over £325,000 is not due on anything left to a spouse.
Mr Mills, whose conviction in 2009 for taking a bribe in return for providing false testimony was overturned on appeal, is named as one of the executors. Dame Tessa, who received a standing ovation in the Lords last January following a moving speech about her illness, was remembered at a memorial service in Southwark Cathedral last week. Mr Mills told the 1,000-strong audience, including former prime ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, that his wife’s final words had been ‘Love forever’. As a Labour MP, Dame Tessa held a number of Cabinet roles, and also masterminded the bid to bring the Olympics to London in 2012.