William Hague has promised a review of Foreign Office procedures after it emerged British officials did not pick up on rumours that Neil Heywood, the British businessman, had been murdered until two months after his death, and waited another three weeks to act. The UK foreign secretary was updating MPs for the first time since the Chinese authorities announced they would investigate the case, and promised he would look into how officials and ministers were informed about British deaths abroad. Mr Hague said: "Ministers are not routinely told about the death of British nationals or other consular cases as they are so numerous. However, we do need to make sure that they are told in relevant cases and we will review our procedures. His comments come after Jeremy Browne, the Foreign Office minister, was pictured meeting Bo Xilai, the former high-ranking Chinese official whose wife has been arrested on suspicion of Mr Heywood's murder, the day after the British man died. In a written statement, Mr Hague admitted British officials did not pick up on rumours in the expatriate community in China about the circumstances surrounding Mr Heywood's death until January 18, more than two months after his death. Wang Lijun, the chief of police in Chongqing, the city where Mr Heywood died, approached the US embassy three weeks later alleging Mr Heywood had been murdered, and it was not until then that Mr Hague was told and the UK began to press the Chinese to investigate. Denis MacShane, a former UK foreign minister, attacked Mr Hague for not providing more information or acting more quickly, and called for a Commons debate into the issue. Mr MacShane said: "It is unacceptable for a foreign secretary to keep secret a possible murder of a British citizen who was involved in a political corruption scandal convulsing the ruling Communist party in China." Meanwhile British officials denied rumours that Mr Heywood was a British spy, insisting, "he was never an employee of the British government." However, they declined to comment on whether he had ever worked for the British intelligence services on an ad hoc basis.