Lee Hsien Yang showed the BBC some documents including a letter stating his claim for asylum was successful. The letter also stated the UK government had given him “refugee status” for five years as it accepted he had the “well-founded fear of persecution and therefore cannot return to your country Singapore”.

Mr Lee, who lives in London, said his wife had also been granted asylum.

A Home Office spokesman said it is “longstanding government policy that we do not comment on individual cases”.

The BBC has independently confirmed Mr Lee’s asylum status. His other claims are in line with Home Office asylum policies.

“Everything the Singapore government has said is fully public and must surely have been taken into account when the refugee status was granted,” Mr Lee said.

“I sought asylum protection as a last resort. I remain a Singapore citizen and hope that some day it will become safe to return home.”

As a member of what has been seen as Singapore’s “first family”, and the former chief of Singapore’s largest telecommunications company, Mr Lee was very much a part of the country’s establishment until he fell out with his brother.

Since then he has joined an opposition political party and become a vocal critic of the Singapore government, roles which he has “every intention” of continuing while based in the UK, he said.