London - The owner of Harrods, Mr Mohamed al-Fayed, was last night told that his long-standing application for British citizenship was to be reconsidered.
The Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, announced that he would no longer contest a ruling by the Court of Appeal that applications by Mr al-Fayed and his brother Ali had been unlawfully turned down under the previous government.
Mr Straw said in a Commons written answer that he would now consider the requests for naturalisation by the Egyptianborn brothers "on their merits".
He also announced that in future all applicants for British citizenship would be told the reasons for their refusal if they were turned down.