Sticky end for the Palace pud seller

A Buckingham Palace worker was given the sack for selling one of the Queen's Christmas puddings on auction website eBay, it emerged today.

Officials marched Ben Church, a property administrator, out of the palace when they heard he advertised the ?6.25 Fortnum & Mason dessert for ?20. The gift was one of 1,450 the Queen handed out to longserving staff.

Palace chiefs insisted the internet auction of the pudding by Mr Church, 25, from south-west London, was a 'security breach'.

Colleagues branded bosses "petty" and "mean" for firing him. One said: "It's unbelievable. The pudding was one of the leftovers going spare."