Lovelorn Lembit: Give me back the ring Cheeky - and the House of Commons pass

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Fated: Obik and Gabriela



Spurned MP Lembit Opik is desperate for Cheeky Girl Gabriela Irimia to hand back her engagement ring – and the pass he gave her to the House of Commons.

Mr Opik, 43, is so anxious about the pass he has urged her twin, Monica, to send it by courier to his London flat.

Liberal Democrat Mr Opik surprised many by giving Romanian Gabriela, 25, access to Parliament when his previous fiancee, TV weather girl Sian Lloyd, 50, was not even let in to use the ladies’ there.

‘If they can’t sort out their differences, Lembit would at least like the pass back, along with the diamond ring he bought Gabriela,’ said a friend. ‘He is distraught at the way things have ended with her.

‘He is very much in love. He feels cheated and angry and is desperate to see her to sort things out. He has not ruled out a reconciliation.’

Last week Gabriela, whose big hit with Monica was The Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum), told a downmarket tabloid that she had suffered a miscarriage. Seven days earlier, she had shocked Mr Opik by announcing that their relationship was over.

His friend said the loss of a child has hurt him most, adding: ‘Lembit was desperate for children and was shocked to hear about Gabriela’s miscarriage. He can’t believe she didn’t tell him herself and she still isn’t answering his calls. They were planning their wedding for this winter and he thought the idea was for her to try to get pregnant after that.’

Ms Lloyd, who broke up with him in October 2006, had also miscarried their baby. Shortly before the split, she admitted that she ‘never wanted children’.

Montgomeryshire MP Mr Opik, who is of Estonian descent, met Gabriela later in October 2006, although they claimed they did not consummate the relationship for two months. Gabriela described their love as like ‘a mushroom – it can only get bigger’.

When Commons hecklers called him a Cheeky Boy, he quipped: ‘I think Honourable Members should leave any cheeky business to me.’

But trouble was brewing with Gabriela’s ferociously ambitious mother, Margit.

‘He thinks Gabriela is controlled by her mother,’ said the friend. ‘He and Gabriela started having arguments because of the pressure Margit puts her under.’

Margit hit back: ‘He is famous because of Gabriela.’ She said the courtship made Gabriela ‘stressed and unhappy’.

She was also upset by him proposing beside the Trevi Fountain in Rome in April – a fortnight after Gabriela’s granny had died and allegedly without asking her permission.


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