As BP announces profits of £5.58 billion in the first half of this year, Gordon Brown is considering imposing a windfall tax on oil companies reveals the Mail.

The paper quotes a Treasury source who said:"People are entitled to make representations on windfall taxes and they will be considered at Budget time".

BP's results were 25 per cent up on last year and its chief executive Lord Browne hailed them as a triumph for a British company against foreign competition.

However the RAC Foundation described BP last night as "beyond fatcats".