It's all over for former minister Clare Short and 'Mr Mo' Jon Norton

Confirmation that they have ended their 18-month relationship came only a week after a candid interview in which Ms Short spoke of her love for merchant banker-turned-artist-and- writer Mr Norton.

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"People always say you fall in love when you are least expecting it, and they're right," said 61-year-old Ms Short in the interview for The Oldie magazine, adding: "Everyone has been lovely. Life is beautiful."

In fact, the interview was conducted several weeks ago, shortly before the couple agreed to go their separate ways.

"Jon and Clare had so much in common and greatly enjoyed being together but they are no longer an item," said a source.

"They both felt they needed more space and time on their own. They have parted very amicably and are still in regular contact. It is sad but they will always be friends. It is just one of those things."

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The two met at a Christmas party in 2005, four months after Ms Mowlam's death, provoking raised eyebrows among some.

But they received warm support from their families and friends.

Over the next year and a half, 52-year-old Mr Norton divided his time between the Kent farmhouse he used to share with Ms Mowlam, and Ms Short's London home in Clapham.

After a successful career as a merchant banker in the Eighties, Mr Norton abandoned the City to become an artist.

He has held several exhibitions of his work and has been known to paint while naked, brush in one hand large whisky in the other, with music by Eric Clapton at full volume in the background.

He became involved with the Labour Party while working in the City in the Nineties and was a fundraiser for Tony Blair's leadership campaign, through which he met Ms Mowlam, then a rising star in the party.

After a whirlwind affair they married in 1995 but shortly afterwards Ms Mowlam was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

It was partly as a result of her illness that she left the Cabinet in 2001.

Mr Norton, who has two grown-up children from his first marriage, gave up work to become Ms Mowlam's full-time carer. She died in August 2005.

Ms Short had been through a similar harrowing experience in her marriage to ex-Labour Minister Alex Lyon, a victim of Alzheimer's disease, who died in 1993.

At the age of 19, she gave birth to a son, Toby, who was handed over for adoption.

The two were reunited in 1996 and have kept in touch.

She served alongside Mo Mowlam in Government but resigned from the Cabinet over the Iraq War.

She has since announced she is to step down as MP for Birmingham Ladywood at the next General Election.