A man has appeared in court accused of climbing up the tower of Big Ben, the Metropolitan Police has said. Daniel Day, 29, of Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday charged with intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance and trespassing on a protected site.

A man has been arrested after scaling Big Ben's Elizabeth Tower at the Palace of Westminster in central London. Emergency services were called at 07:24 GMT on Saturday to reports of a protester who had climbed up the tower holding a Palestinian flag. The barefoot man reached a ledge several metres up the tower and refused to leave.