A report compiled by Lord Michael Ashcroft has revealed how thousands of lions are being bred to be killed by callous hunters or slaughtered so their bones can be turned into ‘medicines’ and trinkets sold for huge sums in the Far East.

A report in The Daily Mail on Sunday says that some of the animals are shot in fenced enclosures by wealthy trophy hunters – including Britons – who pay thousands of pounds to kill them for kicks. Many more are trucked to squalid slaughterhouses and held in appalling conditions until they are shot in the head and butchered.

Lord Ashcroft was in the news in Malta recently when his private plane was blown off the apron at Malta International Airport and crashed into a building because of strong winds.