IT sounds like a pretty direct question – certainly not one that calls for extra time or even a video-assisted referee: Did the Town Hall pay for any employees to go to the World Cup this summer?

But Camden Council said this week it could not definitively say yes or no either way. Officials had been asked under the Freedom of Information Act – the request was not made by the New Journal – to detail whether anybody had made the trip or had match tickets bought for them.

But Camden, rejecting the request because it would take more than 36 hours of work to fully check, added: “Anec­dotally, we are not aware of any such trips and would be very surprised if any such trips occurred.”