An injunction was varied last night after lawyers failed to suppress a story about David Beckham’s alleged foul-mouthed response to being snubbed for a knighthood.

The injunction stopped Times Newspapers from reporting on leaked emails which were part of a cache of 18.6m documents leaked to Der Spiegel Newspaper in Germany via an individual called “John” and his Football Leaks website.

The Sunday Times has been working on the emails relating to Beckham as part of a cross-border investigation by the European Investigative Collaborations network involving 60 journalists in 12 countries.