Whitehall was briefly put under lockdown after a ‘suspicious package’ was near Downing Street, prompting armed officers to flood the area.

‘Massive operation underway outside Downing Street,’ one passer-by tweeted at around 12:40pm. ‘The whole area being evacuated.’

The city of Westminster Police tweeted: ‘Road closures are in place around Whitehall while officers assess a suspicious package.

‘We were called at 12:13hrs and remain in the area.’

The force added, however, at just shy of 12:50pm that the item has been ‘assessed as not suspicious’.

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