Labour MP Anne Moffat to marry party activist

Ms Moffat, 51, will tie the knot with Prestonpans joiner Lawrence McCran in a special ceremony at Westminster in December.

The pair have known each other for several years, but it is understood love only blossomed in recent months.

And today the MP – who is currently recovering from a minor brain haemorrhage – said she had "never been so happy".

Celtic fan Mr McCran, also 51, got down on one knee to propose to her at Parkhead stadium last Saturday.

Ms Moffat had agreed to go with him to the match despite being a Rangers supporter.

She said: "Football is the only thing we don't have in common. But given Rangers won the cup the same day, I thought it balanced out."

Ms Moffat was divorced in 2002 after 20 years of marriage. She has one son, Scott Picking, 24, who will act as witness at the wedding. Mr McCran has also been married before and has three daughters and one grandchild.

The pair first met at 10 Downing Street in 2001. Ms Moffat said: "Lawrence's daughter had been chosen as one of only a few primary school pupils to meet Tony and Cherie Blair, so I was there and he was working in London at that time and came along to see his daughter."

She said there was "always a spark between us" but romance only began when Mr McCran moved back to his native Prestonpans.

"He was back living with his mum and dad and came along to meetings – and things went from there. I've never been so happy."

She said Mr McCran had asked her to marry him before she became ill and they had originally planned to go to London to get engaged, but opted for Glasgow so she did not have to travel so far.

She said: "When I was ill with the brain haemorrhage I thought this was all going to be taken away."

She was taken ill with a soaring temperature on a Sunday night.

She ended up in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for ten days and only got out last Thursday.

"They found bleeding on the pituitary gland, but thankfully it could not have been too big and it has now dispersed."

Ms Moffat, first elected in 2001, was at the centre of a row with local party activists which led to a vote of no confidence and the constituency party being suspended last year.

But a trouble-shooting team was sent in by the national party and said it had resolved the tensions.

The couple will get married at a service in the undercroft of the Houses of Parliament on 10 December – Ms Moffat's parents' wedding anniversary.

And they plan to have a reception at the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club the following day. Ms Moffat plans to be back at work at Westminster soon.