by Adam Williams

A Canterbury author has been reported as the mystery recipient of marathon phone calls from Gordon Brown's Scottish home.

National newspapers on Sunday claimed the Prime Minister's wife, Sarah Brown, had in fact been chatting to Kingston writer and long time friend, Gil McNeil.

Miss McNeil, 50, works two days a week as a Downing Street adviser and is also director of children's charity PiggyBankKids, which was founded by Mrs Brown in 2002.

The pair first met when they worked for the PR agency, Hobsbawm Macaulay Communications (HMC).

Her career has also seen her work in advertising and the film business and her first book The Only Boy For Me, published in 2001, became a paperback best seller in 2002. She lives in a detached four-bedroom house in Kingston with her son.

Documents released by the House of Commons last week as part of the ongoing expenses inquiry showed Mrs Brown had been making marathon calls to the author at taxpayers' expense. One lasted nearly three hours and another made late last Christmas Eve continued into the early hours of Christmas Day.

At first speculation linked the calls to the PM and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Miss McNeil was unavailable for comment on Sunday morning.