The Foriegn Office admitted that it had helped to promote an application to Magdalen College, Oxford, from the 18 year-old son of the Sultan of Brunei. The prime minister was apparently "personally concerned" about the application given the sensitivity of relations between the UK and Brunei. Downing Street denied that the government had asked Magdalen to accept the prince. The Guardian reports that the college, in the news some months ago because of its rejection of state school pupil Laura Spence, was "looking unfavourably" on the application.