Ramsay's wife braves storm over his 'secret affair'

Ms Ramsay, 33, smiled and ignored questions about her husband's alleged infidelity as she left the couple's home in Wandsworth to take their children to school this morning.

Ramsay, who has been married to Tana for 12 years, has refused to confirm or deny a relationship with Sarah Symonds, 38, author of a handbook for mistresses and a former lover of Jeffrey Archer.

Industry experts said today that the fiery chef's business empire could suffer from the damage to his "family man" reputation.

It was also claimed that Ms Symonds, 38, approached the publicist Max Clifford earlier this year as she wanted to launch a television career, prompting suggestions that Ramsay, 42, had been "set up".

The News of the World claimed she and Ramsay had sex on Thursday in the Marriott hotel off Grosvenor Square, adjoining his Maze restaurant.

Today Richard Harden, co-publisher of the Harden's restaurant guide, said the allegations could dent the chef's reputation.

He said: "It must damage the (Ramsay) package. If you are going to build up this image as a perfect family, tucking into perfect food and on the basis you have eyes for nobody else and it turns out to be rubbish - then it does make you think that it is all built on a lie.

"In the long term, it is a weevil burrowing into the carefully-built structure that is Gordon Ramsay."

A source close to Ramsay said today the chef was "fuming" over the newspaper report but was going to "ride it through". The source added: "It doesn't take a bright spark to see why she (Symonds) is doing this. We are going to have to wait and see how the next few days pan out."

Ramsay has built a multi-million-pound business empire, with restaurants in London, Europe, and the US as well as in the Middle East and Japan.

He also makes huge sums from television and book deals and is hosting a live cooking programme on Channel 4.

Ramsay's annual income is reckoned to be around £15million. Tana, mother of their four children all under nine, appears to be standing by him. They were pictured outside their £3.5 million home yesterday but he refused to answer questions.

Tana's father Chris Hutcheson is the chef's business partner with a 31 per cent stake in Gordon Ramsay Holdings.

Meanwhile, Clifford said Ms Symonds, from Newport, South Wales, approached him keen to launch a television career on the back of her book Having An Affair? A Handbook For The Other Woman.

He added: "She was talking about getting herself a television profile ... She's articulate and intelligent and she's got it all worked out - she realised that this was her opportunity to launch herself like other people that have launched themselves out of scandals."