Who is Lembit Opik? Former Lib Dem MP accused of cheating by girlfriend Sabina Vankova who dated Cheeky Girl Gabriela Irimia
The parliamentary romancer has had a unusual life from high profile relationships, near fatal paragliding accidents and even a short stand-up career
LEMBIT Opik was a Liberal Democrat MP for 13 years who frequently hit the headlines for his high profile love life.
The former Welsh Lib Dems leader became hugely recognisable but has recently been accused of cheating - here's the lowdown.
How old is Lembit Opik? What's his background?
Lembit Opik was born in Bangor, Co Down, Northern Ireland on March 2 1965.
His parents had fled their native Estonia after it was occupied by the USSR under Joseph Stalin.
He has an older sister named Urve and hand a younger brother, Endel, who died in 2005.
His grandfather was a respected astronomer and astrophysicist who spent the second half of his career at the Armagh Observatory and has an asteroid named after him as well as a crater on Mars' moon Phobos.
Lembit would go on attend the University of Bristol before beginning a career at consumer goods company Procter and Gamble in Newcastle upon Tyne.
When did Lembit Opik get into politics?
During his time in Newcastle, Opik was elected onto the Liberal Democrats' Federal executive committee.
He was elected as a councillor in the city in 1992 and in the same year unsuccessfully stood in the general election for the Newcastle upon Tyne Central constituency.
Two years later he would also fail to get elected as a Lib Dem MEP for Northumbria in the European Parliament elections.
In 1997 he finally won the seat of Montogomeryshire in Wales after the sitting Lib Dem MP retired.
How long was Opik's parliamentary career?
Opik held the seat from 1997 to 2010, when he was ousted by Tory Glyn Davies.
During his time in parliament he served as the Lib Dem spokesman on education, Northern Ireland, Wales, business and housing.
From 2001-2005 he was a member of he agriculture select committee and was also leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from 2001-2007.
He twice unsuccessfully stood for the party presidency in 2004 and 2008.
What has happened in Opik's life outside politics?
Outside Westminster, Opik has been the focus of much media attention for two high profile romances.
The first was with ITV weathergirl Sian Lloyd with whom he appeared on a celebrity version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in April 2006.
But the couple later split in October that year with Lloyd blasting the then MP in her autobiography.
She claimed Opik's boozing and womanising were two things that destroyed their relationship blasting his "rowdy drunken behaviour" and claiming they would down two bottles of wine in a night.
He later struck up a romance with Gabriela Irimia, one half of pop double act The Cheeky Girls, who was then just 24-years-old.
The announced their engagement after Opik popped the question on a Roman holiday, but the couple separated in July 2008 following what was described as a "difficult period".
Other TV shows he has appeared on include a celebrity version of The Apprentice, Celebrity Come Dine With Me, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here and Celebrity Juice.
When was Lembit Opik accused of cheating?
The Sun reported on November 8 2017 that Lembit's Bulgarian property lawyer girlfriend Sabina Vankova had dumped him publicly on Twitter.
The former Lib Dem MP and his partner celebrated the birth of their first daughter in June.
Vankova went public and ended her relationship with the eccentric former politician, saying her love rival could have him.
She wrote: "Just ended the relationship with @lembitopik.
"The woman with whom he spent Monday night can have him now all for herself."
Ms Vankova had recently claimed that Opik was "unfit to look after their daughter" Angelina because of his drinking habits.
She posted a series of barbed tweets aimed at publicly embarrassing her partner.
The Sun's Bizarre column exclusively revealed that Lembit was ditched after spending the night at reality star Alex Best's house.
An insider said: “Lembit and Alex had been hanging out at a pub for the evening, the Kingswood Arms in Tadworth.
“They’ve been friends for many years and Sabina knows that, but staying over at her house appears to have been the final straw.
“She is absolutely furious and told him the relationship is over as soon as she found out. She’s livid.
“There have been strains over his friendship with Alex in the past but this was the final straw.”
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