Boris Berezovsky, Russian oligarch found dead in his bath

A close friend confirmed to EBB that Mr Berezovsky died at his estate near Ascot in Surrey.

The circumstances of the death remain unknown.

But it will inevitably raise questions about nefarious activities, because Mr Berezovsky was a close friend of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian dissident who was fatally poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 in London in 2006.

Lord Bell, a close friend, said: "He was a very close friend and a very nice man, very kind to me and to the people around him."

Lord Bell said he had been told of the death this afternoon by Mr Berezovsky's private lawyer.