Sir Eric Pickles attended an event at the Israeli embassy to honour those who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

The Tory MP – and special envoy for post-Holocaust issues – was joined by the family of an Austrian woman who saved a Jewish boy from the Nazis.

At the Righteous Among the Nations ceremony yesterday, attendees learnt that Austrian Irma Turnsek saved Franz Leichter by smuggling him out of the country by claiming he was her child.

Acting Israeli acting Ambassador Eitan Na’Eh said: “Even in the bad times we can still occasionally find points of light and Irma’s story shines particularly brightly as one of them.”