Furious British Tories have turned their fire on ex-MP Mark Reckless, with David Cameron branding his defection to Ukip "senseless and counter-productive" while party chairman Grant Shapps told activists: "He lied and lied and lied again."

The Liberal Democrats have held on to the Eastleigh constituency in Hampshire.

Pressure on the BBC grew last night as Nick Clegg, the deputy British prime minister said people in the corporation, and maybe even the police, must have known that Jimmy Savile had been abusing young girls.

BBC director-general George Entwistle has asked a senior colleague to answer journalists’ questions on the dropping of a documentary about Jimmy Savile.