Hilary Benn, the British development secretary, manufactured this week’s row over the World Bank’s corruption strategy in a bid to boost his chances of becoming deputy leader of the Labour party, a senior Bank official has charged.

Paul Wolfowitz is “disappointed” with Mr Benn’s actions according to the World Bank president’s camp. A senior official, close to the World Bank’s board, told the Financial Times: “Benn is revealing himself to be an ambitious political climber who misled his hungry press corps by tossing them some fictional red meat.