Imran Khan confirmed last night that he has secretly married a former BBC weather girl days after his family said he had denied it – provoking a furious reaction from his sister.

The 62-year-old Pakistan cricketer-turned-politician, who divorced heiress Jemima Goldsmith in 2004, has wed 41-year-old divorced mother-of-three Reham Khan.

On New Year’s Eve, Mr Khan said rumours of marriage were ‘greatly exaggerated’ and his sister Aleema said the family challenged him ‘a few days ago’ over the news and he denied it.

Speaking to reporters at Heathrow airport last night before boarding a flight, Khan is reported to have said: ‘I am going to Pakistan to share good news about my marriage with the nation. I have nothing to hide.’

Told by MailOnline that her brother had revealed he was actually married, Aleema Khan said: ‘Really? Really? Let’s see if he announces it officially. I am taken aback.

‘This is a real challenge for him. We haven’t met her and I don’t know that we want to meet her.

It is his decision, he is a grown up. It is more important how the children feel. I suppose in any situation like this the children will not feel good about it. They do look up to their father.’

Speaking amid a political storm surrounding rumours of the marriage, she said she hoped Reham Khan ‘will be good for Pakistan and our brother’.

She added: ‘It all depends on how the public respond to it. The biggest surprise is how everybody in Pakistan feels they have a right to participate in the decision.