“We did ask the Chinese to hold an investigation and we are pleased they are now doing that and I stand ready to cooperate in any way we can,” Cameron said, speaking to reporters in Indonesia on the second leg of a tour around Asia to promote business.

“It’s very important we get to the bottom of what happened in this very disturbing case,” he added.

On Tuesday, China’s official Xinhua news agency said evidence from a reinvestigation of the death of businessman Neil Heywood indicated he had been murdered and named Gu Kailai, wife of senior Communist Party politician Bo Xilai, and an assistant in their household as suspects.

The Communist Party has suspended Bo from its Central Committee and its Politburo, Xinhua added.