Tom Cruise has hit back at Kim Howells who yesterday accused the actor of being too scared of terrorism to fly to Britain.

A spokeswoman for the Hollywood star said: "Afraid of flying? He's a pilot. His airplane is his second home. Tom was over there (Britain) this past year promoting Minority Report.

"In fact, he was all over Europe. Maybe he (Dr Howells) said it because Mr Cruise wasn't in Cannes?

"But that's because he's shooting The Last Samurai in New Zealand. It's pretty hard to be in two places at the same time."