A former long-term partner of David Sullivan says she is convinced he was once in a relationship with Baroness Brady. 

The Daily Mail can reveal that Emma Benton-Hughes, who was scandal-hit Sullivan's partner for 25 years until 2021 and the mother of his two children, suspected Karren Brady used to be his 'girlfriend'. 

A former glamour model, Benton-Hughes is said to have revealed her belief to casual acquaintances over the years, even telling one that she 'didn't like' Brady. 

It is not known if the suspicions of Ms Benton-Hughes were justified since no personal relationship between Brady and her former pornographer boss has ever been confirmed. 

Apprentice star Brady, 57, worked with the billionaire for 37 years – most recently at West Ham United where she was vice-chairman and he was co-chairman. 

Sullivan, 77, resigned from his post at the club last week, prior to the screening of the BBC Panorama investigation which alleged that he had in the past abused his power by preying on women for sex, in some cases when they were teenagers. 

He denies the claims.

One guest who was invited to watch a match at a club when Brady was chief executive told the Mail today how Emma Benton-Hughes, who was professionally known as Eve Vorley, had gossiped about Brady. 

The guest told the Daily Mail: 'I was surprised to learn that despite being David's partner, Eve didn't actually live in his mansion but in a separate house nearby. 

'She didn't explain why and I didn't ask. But she was disarmingly frank all day - for example she talked about how she had first met Sullivan when he had spotted her on the cover of a porn magazine. Not the sort of thing you are usually told in a director's box. 

'But the most extraordinary moment came when I was sitting with Eve just before kick off while Sullivan was talking to Karren Brady, who was famous as the first female football chief executive. 

'We were both sort of half watching the two of them talking and Eve just blurted out something like, 'I don't like that woman. She used to be David's girlfriend'.

'I was flabbergasted and did not know what to say - so I didn't say anything. And Eve very quickly started talking about something else.

'And then the match started, and that was that. But it was a completely unambiguous statement made to a near stranger who she had only recently met.

'I'm sure I cannot have been the only person she made this assertion to at the time.' 

If there had been a romantic relationship between Sullivan and Brady, it would have been many years ago as she has been happily married since 1995 to Canadian footballer Paul Peschisolido, who played for Birmingham City for two seasons.

One source said: 'Sullivan has always had an eye for the ladies which is hardly surprising considering the business he was in, so it is inevitable that people wrongly presume any woman linked to him must have slept with him. 

'It is hardly surprising that Emma had suspicions about them once having a relationship – but who knows if it is true. She might have been jumping to conclusions. 

'There is no doubt that Karren Brady is a very effective and loyal business operator who has been by Sullivan's side for nearly 40 years and that is what he respects about her.'

Journalist and broadcaster Sonia Poulton claimed that Brady and Sullivan had once been 'a couple' in an episode of her Wake Up podcast in April, entitled 'Karren Brady's Dodgy Men' which also detailed her previous working relationship with Sir Philip Green. 

Poulton said in her podcast that Brady had 'never ever had a problem with aligning herself with extremely dodgy rich men'. 

She added: 'But of course perhaps her most troubling relationship remains that of the one with David Sullivan. As I said, they were once a couple. It is not something that she likes to acknowledge too often.' 

Brady has been facing questions this week over how much she knew of Sullivan's past, given her long association with him. 

Commentators have asked whether her links to Sullivan – and also disgraced former Topshop boss Sir Philip Green – mean she can credibly retain her position at Lord Sugar's right hand woman on the primetime BBC show The Apprentice. 

Brady originally worked in advertising for Sullivan's Sunday Sport newspaper before he raised eyebrows by making her managing director when she was just 20. 

She later spotted an advert in the Financial Times for the sale of Birmingham City when the club was in receivership, before persuading Sullivan to buy the club.

She made headlines as the UK's first woman soccer boss when Sullivan appointed her as Birmingham City's managing director in March 1993. 

Brady, who left Birmingham City in 2009, later became a non-executive director on the England 2018 World Cup bid advisory board.

West Ham United's new joint chairmen Sullivan and David Gold appointed her as vice chairman of the east London club in January 2010.

She became a life peer in the House of Lords in September 2014. 

Baroness Brady finally left West Ham in April after 16 years, as rumours swirled about Sullivan being investigated by the BBC. 

Speculation about whether she had once been in a relationship with him mounted after Panorama revealed a string of stories from young women claiming that he had tried to pressure them into sex at his Essex mansion. 

Brady has insisted she had 'no knowledge' of the claims and was 'not involved in, nor did she witness... [any] of the incidents alleged in the reports'. 

In her 2012 autobiography Strong Woman, Brady wrote: 'I have had David Sullivan in my life for virtually the whole of my career, and I know, if things get tough, that he will be on my side. 

'Loyalty goes both ways. And loyalty is created by mutual respect, by promoting people and allowing them to take credit for their work, and standing in front of them when things have not gone right.'

Elsewhere in her book, Brady addressed the apparent paradox of being a champion of women's rights while being linked with Sullivan. 

She wrote: 'People tend to jump to conclusions about the pornography associations of Sport Newspapers, but I wasn't working on any top-shelf titles.

'I was working on the Sunday Sport, and the paper was very different in those days.

'Nonetheless I still get criticism about that time – people say, "How can you stand up for women's rights when you worked in the porn business?" 

'Well, the answer is that I didn't work in the porn business. To me, that criticism is a bit like saying, "Sky has an adult channel, so if you work for Sky that means you work in pornography". Of course it doesn't.'

In 2019, similar questions were levelled at Brady over her links to Philip Green, and what she knew of alleged sexual and racial harassment by the disgraced business tycoon after she quit as chair of his retail empire after two years. He denies all claims.

Labour MP Jess Phillips called on Brady to 'answer as to what went on under her watch' following claims that Green's company paid two staff about £1million each to settle sexual harassment and racial abuse claims. 

The allegations included that the billionaire groped a female employee and told a black executive that his 'problem' was that he was still 'throwing spears in the jungle'.

Two other female employees received hundreds of thousands of pounds each after alleging that Green had grabbed one woman by the face and put another in a headlock. 

Brady, a Conservative peer, was chair of Taveta Investments, the company that ultimately owned the Green family empire of Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins outlets.

Dragon's Den star Duncan Bannatyne had described Brady as a 'hypocrite' for continuing to work for Green despite using her high profile to attack 'serial predators' such as Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and actor Kevin Spacey. 

Bannatyne said before her resignation: 'I think it's disgusting that she's on the payroll of a billionaire who hasn't got a great history with women'. 

When Baroness Brady quit her role at Taveta Investments she refused to explain her decision and even a year later, she said she was still in touch with Green. 

Asked how she could square her feminist credentials with some of the accusations made against Green, she said: 'I didn't square them because I resigned so I think that says all it needs to say.' 

Yet in her book Strong Woman, she described Green as 'without doubt the most dynamic, the most energetic, the most relentless businessperson I have ever come across, a whirlwind of energy and ideas.'

Baroness Brady was contacted for comment.