William Hague, the foreign secretary, has promised a review of foreign office procedures after it emerged British officials did not pick up on rumours that Neil Heywood had been murdered until two months after his death, and waited another three weeks to act, writes Kiran Stacey in London.

Mr Hague was updating MPs for the first time since China announced it would investigate the case, and promised he would look into how officials and ministers were informed about British deaths abroad.

“Ministers are not routinely told about the death of British nationals or other consular cases as they are so numerous. However, we do need to make sure that they are told in relevant case and we will review our procedures,” Mr Hague said.