FIFA Vice president Jack Warner has caused fresh controversy within the English World Cup bid by returning a handbag given to his wife as a gift from the England 2018 bid team.

The rejection comes after representatives from the English team had purchased 24 luxury handbags to give to each partner of the 24 FIFA voters.

FIFA’s ethics committee may yet discuss the matter at it’s next meeting although England remain defiant that they’ve done nothing wrong.

CONCACAF President Warner, said: “As far as I am concerned my wife is sacrosanct and I want no part of anything that affects her so we decided to return the bag. I believe that this was a very innocuous gift given by the FA to my wife for her birthday that led to her being embarrassed by the English media. It was just a symbolic gift and was completely unsolicited it didn’t matter if it cost £2 or £200.”

Since the story became widespread, FIFA has quickly moved to publish the rules which state:

“The rules state that gifts should not be permitted “except for occasional gifts that are generally regarded as having symbolic or incidental value and that exclude any influence on a decision in relation to the Bidding Process”.