Caplin rift with Number 10

Carole Caplin, who shot to fame through her association with the Prime Minister's wife, Cherie Blair, is heading for a public falling out with 10 Downing Street.

Ms Caplin suspects Downing Street staff of investigating her financial affairs and leaking hostile stories.

Another report last night quoted "friends" of Ms Caplin as saying she was upset at Friday's newspaper stories that her swipe-card access to Downing Street had been removed. The same "friends" implied that she is prepared to go public about her life with the Blairs.

The allegations that persons unknown have investigated her finances are made in today's Mail on Sunday which quotes the style guru as saying: "I'm terrified and I don't know why they're watching me like this."

If Ms Caplin has fallen out with Mrs Blair, it will be a belated triumph for Alastair Campbell, who has just resigned as the Prime Minister's communications chief, and his partner, Fiona Millar, who has acted as Mrs Blair's press adviser.

Both disapproved of the connection with Ms Caplin, especially after it was revealed that her lover Peter Foster, a convicted conman, had been helping Mrs Blair hunt for property.

Ms Caplin feels she has been wrongly blamed for the bad publicity surrounding photographs of her and Mrs Blair, including a famous shot in Marie Claire of them together on the Blairs' bed.