Among the asylum seekers were blogger Amos Yee, the late former prosecutor Francis Seow and pro-Palestinian activist Ang Swee Chai.

Lee Hsien Yang, the estranged brother of former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, says he is now a “political refugee” after the British government granted him asylum from what he described as persecution at home.

Lee Hsien Yang and his sister, Lee Wei Ling, have accused their eldest brother of abusing his power to stop them from demolishing the family home according to the wishes of their father, who died in 2015 after leading Singapore for more than three decades.