The latest revelations of dirty dealings swirling around the Vatican have not only shown that the price of sainthood is high (around Â£350,000), but also the price that Pope Francis is paying for his attempts to reform Roman Catholic HQ.

As the CEO of a global organisation, whose mission statement is spreading the word of God and whose bottom line is saving souls, Pope Francis has called often for a "poor Church" that serves the poor.
His problem, though, is that the Church is not poor.
And in the past, the temptation to abuse the Vatican's coffers - and money donated by ordinary Catholics - has been too much for some of the Church's most senior servants to resist, with such dealings obscured until recently by a veil of secrecy.
Three years after the original "Vatileaks", in which the revelations of the then Pope Benedict's butler shook the Vatican, two new books based on leaked documents (Avarice by Emanuele Fittipaldi and Merchants in the Temple by Gianluigi Nuzzi, of Vatileaks fame) created headlines over the past week.
Their revelations of greed and mismanagement might not shock if they concerned the upper echelons of an international sporting organisation, but they will horrify many of the faithful with yet more evidence of cardinals' sins.
However, far from revealing that Pope Francis is presiding over new scandals, the leaks make abundantly clear the scale of the challenge that has been faced by those whom this Pontiff has tasked with cleaning up the Vatican's finances and past mismanagement.
In comments that many will see as directed at his middle and senior managers who have not understood that Pope Francis is serious about reform - financial and spiritual - he told a meeting of bishops in Florence this week: "May God protect the Italian church from every pretence of power, image and money."
Among the disclosures in Nuzzi's latest book is the revelation that the cost of sainthood can run up to Â£350,000 or more.
He also tells the story of a monsignor, Giuseppe Sciacca, who allegedly enlarged his own apartment by taking down his neighbour's wall while the priest was in hospital. Sciacca was demoted and forced to move out by Pope Francis.
Similar claims in Fittipaldi's book include the allegation that the former Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, used Â£140,000 destined for sick children towards the renovation of his apartment.
In response, Cardinal Bertone said he paid the bill himself and then that he had discovered the foundation had also settled it - even though he said he had never asked for that to happen.
The author also claims that an even larger sum that had been destined for the needy from the "Peter's Pence" fund, from church collections around the world, was instead used to plug deficits in the Vatican's finances.
Secret recordings of the Pope were obtained by Nuzzi, although they also play to Francis's credit, revealing the Pontiff's dismay at the corruption that had gripped some parts of the Vatican, as well as his determination to get a grip on its finances and clean up a system whose opacity has protected the guilty in the past.
Nuzzi says that in a recording of a meeting in July 2013, Pope Francis tells the assembled clerics: "I am reminded of an elderly parish priest in Buenos Aires, a wise man who was very careful with money."
He said: "If we don't know how to look after money, which you can see, how can we look after the souls of the faithful, which you can't see?"
Although both authors claim to have published in the hope of helping Francis with his reforms, the Pope appeared less than delighted at the latest airing of the Vatican's dirty laundry beyond its walls.
The Vatican's official response to the books included the threat of legal action against the authors, and the arrest by the Vatican police of a senior cleric, Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, and a PR woman, Francesca Choaouqui, for their alleged involvement in the leaking of confidential documents to the authors.
She has denied being responsible, and was released after co-operating with the investigation.
Both had been on the special commission set up by the Pope to investigate the Vatican's murky finances two years ago.
The revelations may well be shocking, but they are also proof, perhaps, that the Papal reforms are starting to hit where it hurts.
The attempts at imposing financial transparency and rigour within the Curia are making it harder for the misspending of Vatican funds to continue, or be kept secret, not least thanks to Rome's first independent auditor general, plus a new finance department led by the conservative Australian cardinal, George Pell.
On top of that, a supervisory Council for the Economy includes outside lay experts for the first time.
Changing the culture of an unwieldy and change-resistant bureaucracy such as the Vatican, though, will not happen overnight and some in Rome fear that the latest leaks are all part of a "dirty tricks" campaign against a Pope who is determined to ensure that the Church hierarchy practises what it preaches.
Pope Francis once said that it hurt his heart to see a priest with the latest model of car.
"If you like the fancy one, just think about how many children are dying of hunger," he said.
These days in Rome, fancy apartments, ostentatious clerical vestments and top of the range cars are frowned upon at the highest level, for spiritual as well as financial reasons.
In Florence this week, Pope Francis continued to lead by example - choosing to eat lunch with the poor and lining up at a Caritas soup kitchen to eat soup with a plastic spoon.
He had told a newspaper not long before that "a believer cannot speak of poverty and the homeless but have the lifestyle of a pharaoh".
The would-be pharaohs of the Vatican have been warned.


All photographs Â© John Vink / Magnum Photos.


Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has called off a state visit to Washington next month in a row over allegations of US espionage.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) has been accused of intercepting emails and messages from Ms Rousseff, her aides and state oil company, Petrobras.
The allegations were based on documents leaked by fugitive former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
President Barack Obama had promised to investigate the incident.
The White House said he had telephoned Ms Rousseff on Monday to discuss the matter.
The allegations of widespread espionage against Brazilian citizens were first published in July by Rio de Janeiro-based journalist Glenn Greenwald, a reporter for the British Guardian newspaper.
Mr Greenwald alleged that the NSA accessed all internet content that Ms Rousseff had visited online.
By Wyre DaviesBBC News, Rio de Janeiro
The Brazilian president was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Her decision to cancel (or officially, to postpone) the Washington visit will be seized upon by some as an act of petty nationalism.
Some Brazilian business leaders, worried by the precarious economic climate, will question the wisdom of antagonising such an important business ally as the US.
But the political pressure was greater still. There was fury in Brazil, not only at the revelation that the president's own conversations and communications may have been spied upon by the NSA but that US interests were allegedly involved in blatant economic espionage against major Brazilian interests, including Petrobras.
Dilma Rousseff will have been wary of feelings of ordinary Brazilians had her Washington trip gone ahead. The perception here in Brazil is that the Obama administration has yet to give an adequate response or an apology.
The documents, according to the report, were part of an NSA case study showing how data could be intelligently filtered.
Earlier this month, another report by Mr Greenwald on Globo Television alleged that the NSA had illegally accessed data from Petrobras.
The company is due next month to carry out an important auction for exploration rights of an oil field off the Rio de Janeiro state coast.
Ms Rousseff has said that if the accusations are proven it means the NSA was involved in "industrial espionage".
Ms Rousseff's state visit was to have started on 23 October and would have been the first by a Brazilian president since 1995.
But in a statement on Tuesday, the Brazilian government said that "given the proximity of the scheduled state visit to Washington - and in the absence of a timely investigation of the incident, with corresponding explanations and the commitment to cease the interception activities" it could not go ahead as planned.
The statement said Brazil hoped the visit would take place "as soon as possible", once the issue had been "resolved properly".
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the postponement had been a joint decision between Ms Rousseff and Mr Obama, who agreed it "should not be overshadowed by any bilateral issue".
The White House said in a statement: "The president has said that he understands and regrets the concerns [that] disclosures of alleged US intelligence activities have generated in Brazil and made clear that he is committed to working together with President Rousseff and her government in diplomatic channels to move beyond this issue as a source of tension in our bilateral relationship."
The BBC's Wyre Davies, in Rio de Janeiro, says the decision to halt the trip will not have been easy as Dilma Rousseff is respected in Washington and was to have been the only world leader afforded the honour of a US state visit this year.
Turning that opportunity down, he says, will be interpreted in some diplomatic circles as a snub.
But our correspondent says that by standing up to unacceptable practices she may well have enhanced her own chances of re-election next year.
The NSA has been accused of looking into electronic communications from what the US sees as hostile Latin American governments, such as Venezuela and Ecuador, as well as traditional allies, including Mexico.
At the G20 meeting in Russia earlier this month, Mr Obama promised to investigate the allegations of espionage against Ms Rousseff and her Mexican counterpart, Enrique Pena Nieto.
"What I got from President Obama was a commitment to a full investigation... and if they turn out to be true to impose corresponding sanctions," Mr Pena Nieto told the BBC.
Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, began providing caches of sensitive government documents to media outlets four months ago.
In June, the 30-year-old fled his home in Hawaii, where he worked at a small NSA installation, to Hong Kong, and subsequently to Russia.
A US federal court has since filed espionage charges against Mr Snowden and is seeking his extradition.
Mr Snowden, however, remains in Russia where he has been granted temporary asylum.


At least six people have been killed in explosions at two offices of a major Nigerian newspaper, witnesses say.

Three people were killed in a blast in Abuja, with another three killed at the paper's offices in the northern city of Kaduna.
Witnesses say at least one was a suicide bombing, but officials have not confirmed this.
No-one has said it carried out the blasts although the Islamist group Boko Haram has staged similar attacks.
The blasts at the offices of ThisDay newspaper, a leading daily, happened around 11:30 GMT.
Several witnesses, including the chairman of ThisDay's editorial board, said the blast in the capital was the result of a suicide attack.
"The suicide bomber came in a jeep," Olusegun Adeniyi told reporters at the scene in Abuja.
"[Security guards] opened the gate for them. The guy drove in through the gate and rammed into the building and exploded," Mr Adeniyi said.
However, a spokesperson for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency earlier said the Abuja blast appeared to be caused by a bomb planted inside the building.
Parts of the newspaper's office, including the printing press, have been completely destroyed.
The Kaduna explosion happened outside a complex housing a number of newspapers, including ThisDay.
A suspect has been arrested and is thought to be a member of the Boko Haram group, news agency AFP quoted police as saying.
The BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar in Kaduna says that another, smaller explosion occurred in the city just before 16:00 GMT.
Witnesses told our correspondent an explosive device was thrown by the passenger of a motor bike at the junction of a major highway.
Two people were taken to hospital, our correspondent says.
Footage filmed by the Nigerian paper the Daily Trust, showed a scene of confusion in Abuja as people sifted through the rubble while a number of small fires burned.
Police and paramilitary forces cordoned off both offices while emergency workers evacuated the injured and removed the bodies of those who died.
"The ceiling of our building collapsed on to our computers because of the force of the blast," an Abuja office worker in the building next door to ThisDay told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
A ThisDay employee, Samson Oliver, was dozing after a night shift when the blast occurred: "When I woke up with shock and fear, I saw everywhere was so dark, something like smoke everywhere, and I ran out and saw that it was a bomb explosion."
Boko Haram - whose name means "Western education is forbidden" - wants to establish Islamic law in Nigeria and has launched a series of deadly attacks across the country, including the capital, in the past 19 months.
Last month the group warned journalists not to misrepresent its views.


Mansfield have made Southend United midfielder Will Atkinson their 11th close-season signing.

Atkinson, 28, played 37 times in League One this season for Southend but has now dropped down a division.
He has won promotion from League Two on three occasions and also played for Bradford in their League Cup final defeat by Swansea in 2013.
"The lad is a real competitor, has huge energy levels and is a welcome addition to the squad," said boss Steve Evans.
Atkinson is no stranger to Mansfield, having spent a month on loan there in 2008 while at Hull City, and has also played for Port Vale, Rochdale, Rotherham and Plymouth.
Evans said he would look to sign two more players, having brought in 11 to replace the same number he released at the end of the campaign.
Goalkeeper Conrad Logan, defenders David Mirfin, Johnny Hunt, Hayden White and Zander Diamond, midfielders Jacob Mellis and Paul Digby, winger Paul Anderson and strikers Lee Angol and Jimmy Spencer have all joined on deals of unspecified lengths.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


Warrington Wolves have signed half-back Gary Wheeler on a one-year deal following his release by St Helens.

The 26-year-old featured 11 times last season for the Super League champions but was not offered a new contract.
Wheeler came through the academy at Saints and his versatility has seen him feature at centre and wing.
"I've been a big admirer of Gary's ability for some time. He's extremely versatile and will add real depth to the squad," said head coach Tony Smith.
"At times he's had some bad luck with injuries but we've assessed the situation and look forward to him contributing to the 2015 season."


A team which recreates popular movies as 8-bit video games is attracting millions of views on YouTube.

David Dutton from California makes the "old school" arcade-style films for film collective Cinefix.
His four minute version of 2001 Japanese anime movie Spirited Away has attracted nearly 1m views since it was uploaded last month.
Other films to get an "old school" makeover include Titanic, The Avengers and Frozen.
Mr Dutton uses off-the-shelf software Adobe Photoshop and editing software After FX to create the films.
His brother Henry writes the distinctive music and the sound is edited in Adobe Premiere.
"We grew up playing video games in the 80s," said Mr Dutton, who used to direct music videos.
"But we had no background in animation."
Two years and 45 films later, Mr Dutton's 8-bit cinema efforts are getting a good response from Hollywood itself.
James Gunn, who directed the movie Guardians of the Galaxy, said on Facebook that Mr Dutton's version, released in January, "makes my heart sing", and the producers also claim to have worked with some of the studios directly on remakes.
The Cinefix channel says copyright is not an issue because the creations fall under the umbrella of "parody" which is included in the "fair use" clause of US copyright law.
The short video game clips appeal because of a combination of nostalgia and artistic merit, Cinefix lead programmer Michael Cruz told the BBC.
"If I look at Spirited Away - the episode is just gorgeous. In and of itself the artistry is one of the reasons people come back," he said.
In addition to films which readily lend themselves to video game format, such as The Avengers, the team tries to focus on less obvious choices.
"Our favourites tend to be the ones where you don't expect them to be 8-bit video games," said Mr Cruz.
"The Avengers was great but it makes a really easy video game. Whereas Silence of the Lambs is a bit more difficult to do, more fascinating."
Cinefix is owned by digital production firm Whale Rock Industries.


Consumers will only buy something with cash twice every three days, and only write two cheques all year, by 2024, a trade association claims.

By then, it says debit cards will be the most common method of payment, followed by cash and direct debits.
The predictions suggest a move away from cash as people use contactless cards or devices - such as smartphones - linked to their debit card.
Non-cash payments recently overtook cash payments by shoppers and firms.
Payments UK predicts that the number of non-cash payments by consumers alone will be higher than the use of notes and coins during 2016.
The association's long-term forecasts suggest that people will move away from paying with cash to buy items such as groceries and lottery tickets online. Small-value transactions, such as newspapers and lunch, may be bought by card.
It predicts that the average adult will make 225 cash payments in 2024, compared with 345 last year. Debit card payments will typically rise from 172 to 282 over the same period, it predicts.
The figures will worry campaigners for financial inclusion, as those without access to a bank account will be without a debit card.
A recent report by the Financial Inclusion Commission found that two million adults in the UK do not have a bank account, leaving them disconnected from "the financial mains".


If the investigation of last week's multiple bomb attacks in southern Thailand follows the pattern of that into the bombing of the Erawan Shine in Bangkok exactly a year ago, we are in for a surreal ride.

What we may not see is any convincing explanation for what happened.
Like the spate of small bombs last week, the attack in Bangkok on 17 August last year was something new. Never before had such a large, deadly device been detonated at a symbolically-powerful location popular with foreign tourists. Twenty people died, and more than 120 were injured.
The immediate response of the military authorities was to deny any possibility that this was a terrorist attack. The next response was to deny any possibility that it might be retribution for a controversial decision a month before to deport 109 Muslim Uighur asylum-seekers back to China, where they faced harsh treatment as suspected insurgents. This despite the fact that the shrine was known to be popular with Chinese tourists.
Instead military spokesmen dropped heavy hints that their domestic political opponents - supporters of ousted Prime Ministers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra - were to blame.
Even when two suspects were caught, both of them ethnic Uighurs, the Thai authorities initially refused to confirm their Chinese nationality, and insisted they were merely part of a people-smuggling gang frustrated over police operations constricting their business.
This official view has remained unchanged to this day, notwithstanding the discovery of large quantities of bomb-making materials in the same apartment where Bilal Mohammed, the first suspect, was apprehended.
But the police continued to try to link the attack with the opposition red-shirt movement. They stated last September that one of the key suspects was a known red-shirt activist, appropriately named Mr Odd, with links to a woman who was among 15 people believed to have fled to Turkey in the wake of the bombing. His photograph was circulated, but then the police appeared to lose all interest in him.
Neither did they make any visible efforts to get the 15 other suspects extradited from Turkey, despite the fact that one of them, a Uighur man named Abudustar Abdulrahman, who had flown out of Bangkok the night before the bomb, was believed to have played a central role in organising the attack.
Meanwhile the police put on a bizarre spectacle, awarding themselves a large pile of cash, equivalent to around $80,000, which had been raised as a reward for information leading to convictions.
The two detained suspects have since been indicted and held in a military base, with very few people allowed access to them.
Bilal Mohammed has been charged with placing the bomb under a seat in the shrine - the man caught on security camera videos that night - even though he looks quite different, and police had at first insisted he was not the man in the video. He has denied the charge and has written a letter insisting he was only trying to reach Turkey, using people-smugglers in Thailand.
Both men are being tried in a military court. The only translator found in Bangkok who can speak their language has since been arrested for drug offences, so they now have no way to follow court proceedings.
Both men have pleaded not guilty, and have hinted that they have been abused in custody. Bilal Mohammed broke down in tears on his way to court in May and shouted that he was "not an animal".
Their lawyer has advised that their best option is to plead guilty and hope for leniency.
Immediately after last week's bombings, the military authorities again suggested the most likely culprits were "those who have lost power", the same phrase used last year to point at the red-shirt opposition.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha pointedly asked why the bombings had taken place right after the military had succeeded in getting its constitution - opposed by the red-shirts - approved in a national referendum.
Any thought that the attacks could be considered terrorism was once again dismissed. They were, said a police commander, just "domestic sabotage".
Any possible link to the long-running separatist insurgency in Thailand's southern-most provinces was likewise dismissed, although those familiar with that conflict believe this is the most likely scenario. More recent comments by the military authorities are starting to acknowledge that possibility, and in his latest remarks the prime minister has said the government is not accusing any group.
Why does the military obfuscate the investigation of such critical events with so many baffling statements?
One obvious factor is the fear that tourism will be adversely affected if there is any suggestion of terrorism. Estimates vary, but tourism accounts for between 9% and 20% of the economy (depending on whether direct or indirect contributions are counted), and it is just about the only part of the economy which is growing.
Big terrorist incidents, like the Bali bomb in 2002, and more recent attacks in Turkey, do drive foreigners away. But the Bangkok bomb last year had only a brief impact, and provided there are no further attacks, the effect this time will probably also be limited.
Another factor is the embarrassment of such attacks to a military government that seized power in the name of restoring peace and order.
The latest attacks took place on the 84th birthday of Queen Sirikit, an auspicious anniversary for Thais and one the ultra-royalist military had wanted celebrated openly across the country.
In Hua Hin, the favourite residence of the royal family outside Bangkok, and the site of one of the attacks - the celebration had to be held inside a military barracks.
And acknowledging that the southern militants may be involved would underscore the military's failure even to contain, let alone resolve, a conflict which has cost more than 6,000 lives.
The experience of previous violent events in Thailand is not encouraging. Very few have ever been fully investigated.
The massacre of students in Bangkok in 1976; of pro-democracy protesters in 1992; the killing of more than 90 people during an occupation of Bangkok by the red-shirt movement in 2010, and the subsequent military operation against it; and the deaths of 30 people in the rival yellow-shirt occupation of 2013-2014 before the coup - details of all these events remain disputed, their causes unexplained, and most of the perpetrators unpunished.
No-one should be surprised if the bombings, last year and this year, produce a similar outcome.


Mansfield remained mid-table in League Two as they played out a goalless draw with Colchester, who remain just two points ahead.

Defences were very much on top in a tight first half which was short on quality and saw few chances at either end.
Matt Green might have put Mansfield ahead on 12 minutes but pulled a low finish wide from eight yards, while Ashley Hemmings and Mal Benning also fired wide.
Colchester produced the game's first effort on target on 24 minutes when Kurtis Guthrie headed Owen Garvan's free-kick at Scott Shearer.
On 41 minutes Garvan then forced Shearer down to his right to turn away a low 25-yard effort.
The second half saw even fewer opportunities with the Stags dominating the pressure but unable to find a finish.
Green turned just outside the box to force Sam Walker to save his low finish and headed another good chance over four minutes later from Lee Collins' cross.
Krystian Pearce was relieved to see Shearer reach his short backpass first with two minutes left and in the last minute a Tom Eastman header fromthe by-line dropped onto the top of the home crossbar.
Report provided by the Press Association.
Match ends, Mansfield Town 0, Colchester United 0.
Second Half ends, Mansfield Town 0, Colchester United 0.
Danny Rose (Mansfield Town) is shown the yellow card.
Danny Rose (Mansfield Town) has gone down, but that's a dive.
Jamie McGuire (Mansfield Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Tom Eastman (Colchester United).
Foul by Rhys Bennett (Mansfield Town).
Kurtis Guthrie (Colchester United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Tom Eastman (Colchester United) hits the bar with a header from a difficult angle on the right following a set piece situation.
Foul by Jamie McGuire (Mansfield Town).
Sammie Szmodics (Colchester United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Drey Wright (Colchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Substitution, Colchester United. Drey Wright replaces Craig Slater.
Krystian Pearce (Mansfield Town) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Kurtis Guthrie (Colchester United).
Corner,  Mansfield Town. Conceded by Richard Brindley.
Corner,  Mansfield Town. Conceded by Brennan Dickenson.
Foul by Rhys Bennett (Mansfield Town).
Sammie Szmodics (Colchester United) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Ashley Hemmings (Mansfield Town).
Brennan Dickenson (Colchester United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Hand ball by Rhys Bennett (Mansfield Town).
Substitution, Colchester United. Sammie Szmodics replaces Denny Johnstone.
Attempt missed. Denny Johnstone (Colchester United) header from very close range is too high following a corner.
Corner,  Colchester United. Conceded by Rhys Bennett.
Attempt missed. Matt Green (Mansfield Town) header from the centre of the box is too high.
Delay in match Owen Garvan (Colchester United) because of an injury.
Attempt saved. Matt Green (Mansfield Town) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Attempt blocked. Chris Clements (Mansfield Town) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Malvind Benning (Mansfield Town) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Richard Brindley (Colchester United).
Substitution, Mansfield Town. Danny Rose replaces James Baxendale.
Jamie McGuire (Mansfield Town) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Owen Garvan (Colchester United).
CJ Hamilton (Mansfield Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Craig Slater (Colchester United).
Hand ball by Kurtis Guthrie (Colchester United).
Jamie McGuire (Mansfield Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Craig Slater (Colchester United).
Corner,  Mansfield Town. Conceded by Tom Eastman.


Police have launched an investigation after two boys aged 12 and 13 allegedly stole from the shelves of a supermarket while locked in overnight.

It is understood the two boys hid in the Sainsbury's at Kingsgate in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, after it closed at 22:00 on Monday 7 August.
It is believed they were found by staff at about 02:00 on Tuesday morning.
A Sainsbury's spokeswoman said the firm was helping police with their inquiries.
She said: "We can confirm there was an incident at our East Kilbride store and we're supporting the police with their investigation."
A police spokeswoman confirmed an investigation was under way and that inquiries were continuing.


An American airline is ending flights between New York and Newcastle over fears for the strength of the pound in the wake of the Brexit vote.

United Airlines said its last service from Newcastle will fly on 6 September.
The company said the route was "not profitable" and anticipated an "impact of the weaker pound in UK outbound travel".
The pound has lost more than 13% of its value against the US dollar since the UK voted to leave the EU.
The airline has run the service between Newcastle and Newark for six days a week for the last two summers.
A spokeswoman for United Airlines said: "We have regretfully taken this decision because this seasonal route has not proved to be profitable and because of the anticipated impact of the weaker pound on UK outbound travel."
Newcastle Airport said the news was "disappointing" but said it does not reflect growing passenger numbers, with new routes recently agreed to places like Berlin and Warsaw.
Iain Malcolm, chairman of LA7, the combined authority of seven North East councils, said: "This is disappointing news. The region pulled together magnificently to secure a New York service and we have all worked extremely hard to make it work.
"While it is a blow to lose the service, especially given that numbers were up, the reasons are understandable."


An empty school, a former railway goods shed and harbourside land will be transformed with £3m of lottery grants.

Volunteers in Y Fron, Gwynedd, hope to turn the 170-year-old Ysgol Bronyfoel into an 18-bed bunkhouse, shop, cafe and community rooms.
A Grade II-listed shed at Meliden, Denbighshire, will become a cafe and heritage centre with a bike hire facility, allotments and orchard.
Land at Porthcawl, Bridgend county, will house a new maritime centre.
The funding is part of the Big Lottery Fund project to help community groups take on local facilities and put them to better use.
Work on the school at Y Fron in the Nantlle Valley will start in 2017 and the project is expected to open in early 2018.
Jim Embrey, chairman of Canolfan Y Fron, the group behind the scheme, said the £947,000 grant would "genuinely transform" the area.
The renovation of Ysgol Bronyfoel, which closed in 2015, will also include a new treatment room for health, therapy and beauty services and changing rooms for the adjacent playing field.
The £1.1m renovation work on the shed will also begin next year.
Located on the Prestatyn to Dyserth cycle way, the project will also feature two workshop units and a small shop.
Grwp Cynefin community initiatives manager, Mair Edwards, said: "The shed is going to provide valuable employment, volunteering and learning opportunities, and preserve the heritage of Meliden."
Porthcawl Harbourside CIC will use £1.1m to build a maritime centre and community hub on land transferred from the county council.
It is located in the Porthcawl harbour quarter and will provide an all-weather community and visitor attraction with an emphasis on coastal science, maritime history, maritime-related sport and leisure, and community learning and employment.


Aston Villa will not give up on survival in the Premier League according to manager Remi Garde despite another defeat at Swansea.

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Despite an encouraging first-half performance, Villa lost 1-0 at the Liberty Stadium to sit 12 points from safety with nine games remaining.
Federico Fernandez bundled the ball in to hand Villa a sixth defeat in a row.
"Once again it is frustrating to get nothing out of the game," the 49-year-old Frenchman said.
"Until mathematically it is not possible why should we give up?"
Off the field, Tom Fox stepped down from his role as chief executive at Villa Park this week, while sporting director Hendrik Almstadt also left the club.
There have been a number of changes recently, with ex-Football Association chairman David Bernstein becoming a director and former boss Brian Little taking an advisory role to the board.
"We showed as a team that we were not too much affected by the board stuff," added Garde. "We have to concentrate on our business and that is football and that's what we showed today.
"Today I'm quite pleased with the way that we played. When you've lost you're not happy, but the character that the players showed today we have to do every game."


Wales should continue to be represented on a reformed BBC management board, an independent review has concluded.

Sir David Clementi, who led the review, said the current regulator, the BBC Trust, should be scrapped, with media watchdog Ofcom holding the BBC to account instead.
He also said the BBC should have a single "board" to run its management.
In February, a committee of MPs said such a board would not need to have a representative from Wales.
But Sir David rejected that argument, saying there was a precedent dating back to 1952 of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland having their own voice in BBC decision making.
"It has provided an important link between the BBC and the Nations it serves," said Sir David.


England take on Australia on Saturday seeking to equal their all-time record of 14 consecutive victories, set by the team that would go on to win the 2003 World Cup.

They are also seeking a 13th straight win since Eddie Jones took charge, and an unbeaten 2016.
In his final column for BBC Sport as he enters the final stages of his rehabilitation after long-term injury, England flanker James Haskell looks at the talking points.
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England have had some of their best games against Australia over the years and some nail-biting wins.
I think back to that last-gasp winner from Dan Luger in 2000, when he got on the end of Iain Balshaw's chip to score the winning try after eight minutes of injury time - it doesn't get much more dramatic than that.
Australia are a highly skilled team but they also bring plenty of physicality, as we experienced on tour this summer.
We may have won all three games but after we had the physical edge in the first Test, they were very abrasive in the next two matches - there were plenty of flare-ups.
They have some great individual players.
Israel Folau is one of the best athletes you will ever see. I look at him and wish I had some of his genes so I could do some of the things he does - he's got great pace, sublime handling skills and is such a graceful runner.
Folau is one of a number of rugby league players who have made an impact with the Wallabies over the past decade.
I like rugby league and when I was playing Super Rugby and living down south I watched Australia's National Rugby League (NRL), and everyone loves State of Origin.
I was always struck by how impressive the skill levels of players like Benji Marshall, Shaun Johnson and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck are.
You get more time and space in rugby league to produce those skills and I think it makes a difference when you grow up playing league, because you get the chance to learn and execute them as you have that little bit more time on the ball.
I talked to Sam Burgess when he was playing union and he explained the work-rate involved, because they're making 30 tackles and 20 to 30 carries, and because there's more time and space it's such a different game to union.
I think he found it frustrating that union defences are so well drilled, and there is so little space. You also just don't get the same number of carries as you do in league.
I would love to have gone over there and played in the NRL - if they decided I was up to it - and I always asked Sam Burgess if [South Sydney Rabbitohs co-owner] Russell Crowe was interested in signing me. I'm still waiting for the call back. I am sure it will be any day now…
Since the game went professional I am kind of surprised so few people have gone over from union to give the NRL a go as it's an attractive game and so big in Australia.
I guess that for the level of player likely to give it a go, it would mean giving up international rugby union, and that's always going to be the biggest stage in the game.
I am sure someone will make the transition at some point. Sadly it's too late for me. I am trying to learn to play union again, let alone learn to play another game.
My Wasps colleague Nathan Hughes gets his first England start on Saturday, in place of the injured Billy Vunipola at number eight.
They are different players in a number of ways, but both are known for their supreme carrying power.
Billy has quickly become a world-class number eight and although Nathan is right up there on his day, it's a lot to expect him to be thrown into Test rugby and immediately hit those heights.
The public and media always clamour for players to get immediate exposure at international level, but they never appreciate that it's such a tough step up, and takes most mortal players time to adjust, although there are exceptions of course.
I love the way Nathan plays, he tramples over opposition defenders seemingly at will and carries the ball in one hand like it's a loaf of bread.
The other change sees Marland Yarde hold off the challenge of Semesa Rokoduguni to replace the suspended Elliot Daly on the wing.
I am told there's been a lot of debate among fans as to which of the two players they want to see starting on Saturday.
Having worked on TV for the past few weeks, I have been able to watch closely how England and other teams have been playing. Sadly fans only see the tries and big hits. They don't see the little details, the mistakes and positives that actually decide whether players get selected or not.
All I can say is I wouldn't like to be defending against either of them, one on one, in a few metres of space…
Equalling England's all-time winning run of 14 games on Saturday would be a huge achievement but it won't have been talked about much by the players.
They will be worrying about their performance and will leave it up to the media to hype it up.
This week, World Cup-winning England captain Martin Johnson was complimentary about the current team and it's great that someone of his stature would come out and say that.
It's very difficult to compare the two sides because they were world champions for a reason.
They had world-class players like Johnno, Jonny Wilkinson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Matt Dawson, they were winning for a long time and they were very consistent - it is something the current team can aspire to and use as motivation.
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The 'mind games' between rival coaches Eddie Jones and Michael Cheika are not something the players take much notice of.
With the media stuff it's something you hear third-hand when you're having a coffee and someone might mention it.
But as for what they've been saying, all professional sportspeople try to steal a march on their opponents.
When it comes to scrums I joke about just putting my head down and pushing but there's a lot that goes into it, and a lot of it is about countering what the other side are doing.
I've been on the side of scrums when the opposition prop hinges from the hips, it looks like my prop's dropped it, and we get penalised.
If the coach can bring the referee's attention to something like that then they'll look at it more closely - they're only human.
It can be counterproductive though, as they might focus on things you'd rather they didn't.
Scrums will always be a contentious area, and as I have said before props like to make it sound more complicated than it is.
It's like they are all part of a secret society like the Magic Circle, where they all meet up and agree to make it really tricky for outsiders to understand, so they can continue to be some of the highest-paid players in the world.
I have tried to get into the club, but I don't have 18in studs or understand what boring in means.
Saturday is going to be a hard-fought game - they always are with Australia.
The set-piece battle - the scrum and the line-out - is going to be closely contested, as is the driving game from the pack, while there will be plenty of physicality in defence.
Last week, England shut down the Argentina attack when they tried to go wide and that is a good sign because in the first Test in the summer, in Brisbane, when Australia went 'wide wide' they found us out on the edges.
That happens for a number of reasons.
Firstly people over-commit to the breakdown, which leaves you men down in the defensive line.
People not filling the space quickly enough is also an issue, as is not getting enough line speed as you come up to defend and close down their space.
Then there's the class of the Wallaby attack. They often pass to a back very deep and that gives them a lot of space to attack, and you a lot of space to defend, so you've got to push up and close them down.
You will also see guys getting off the floor as quickly as they can to get back in the game.
Given the threat of the Australian backs, England will have focused on defending out wide and will have identified the threats, so hopefully we won't see them getting round the outside again.
We won the second Test in the summer because of a massive defensive performance.
Games like that, when you are defending for so much of the time, feel different to regular games.
It's a mixture of confidence, because you are going so well defensively, and nervousness because you can make 50 tackles but if you miss one they can be right back in the game. You feel both calm and anxious at the same time.
It's important when you don't have the ball to celebrate every little win, whether that is a big hit, turnover or smart bit of play. Maro Itoje is the king of that, at one point he whooped so hard he was shaking.
I expect Saturday's game to be more like the third June Test, which was much more open.
It will start with real intensity but then we should see both teams looking to attack.
Australia's back row, with Michael Hooper and David Pocock dovetailing so well, is very dangerous and they can cause opponents lots of problems.
For me, they are still the most dangerous pairing out there. You deal with one, and the other pops up causing trouble.
It is interesting to see Nick Phipps at scrum-half - he is a very fiery character on the pitch.
He has a speedy service and the quality of his delivery to Bernard Foley - who is a very good 10 on his day but produced a mixed bag in the summer - will be a big factor in how Australia perform.
The England boys will want to put pressure on them, because they are heartbeat of the Wallaby team, and make their lives a living hell.
They will need to feel that every time they look up they have a Tom Wood, George Kruis or Nathan Hughes breathing down their necks
England will win, but I'm not one for making score predictions. The BBC Sport users might like to do so below though, or you can let me know your verdict on Twitter.
James Haskell was talking to BBC Sport's James Standley


New UKIP leader Diane James will meet the party's assembly members to try to end the in-fighting that has dogged the group since May's election.

UKIP Wales leader Nathan Gill now sits as an independent AM, while rival Neil Hamilton leads UKIP's assembly group.
On being elected leader on Friday, Ms James removed Mr Hamilton from the Bournemouth party conference programme.
She gave the slot to Mr Gill instead, saying he was a "very, very valued" MEP and had her "100% support".
UKIP won seven seats at the assembly election, entering the Senedd for the first time.
In a statement, Ms James said: "I am well aware of the differences within the group which regretfully and inappropriately seem to be aired all too often publicly.
"My intention is to meet with the Cardiff AMs to identify and understand their concerns and issues.
"UKIP has achieved huge success in Wales this year and we also should not ignore the overwhelming support that Brexit had in the principality.
"I want to see this success and support built upon going forward and hence my meetings with the members will be the first step towards this goal.
"Wales should be a blueprint for UKIP electoral success - it is my intention to make it so."
Ms James is due to visit the Senedd at the end of September.
Meanwhile, Mr Hamilton has accused Mr Gill of "fawning" over Ms James since her election.
"He's a political limpet and about as lively," Mr Hamilton told reporters in Cardiff Bay on Tuesday, adding that the UKIP group had unanimously supported his leadership in a vote of confidence on Monday.
"I'm confident I have the support of the overwhelming number of branches in Wales" he said.
Mr Hamilton described his relationship with Ms James as "cordial" and said he was not apprehensive about her visit to the Senedd.
"We operate in the assembly as an independent group in the sense that we are not a party group, we are a group of assembly members formed under assembly rules, not UKIP rules," Mr Hamilton insisted.
"So there is no way the party can change the arrangements here in the assembly, which is the sole purpose of our daily life," he said.


MSPs have renewed calls for Andrew Flanagan to leave his role as chairman of the Scottish Police Authority.

During a question session at Holyrood, members from all four opposition parties said it was time for Mr Flanagan to go.
Two committees issued scathing reports about his leadership of the police authority after transparency probes.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said issues would be considered carefully before the government made a decision.
Mr Flanagan previously said "now is not the time" for a change of leadership at the SPA, but has said he will consider the latest Holyrood reports "very carefully".
Holyrood's public audit committee and the justice sub-committee on policing have both criticised Mr Flanagan, with the former raising "very serious concerns" and the latter saying they "do not have confidence" in his leadership.
The police watchdog is also investigating governance at the SPA after a board member quit amid a row over meetings being held behind closed doors and Mr Flanagan's failure to circulate critical correspondence.
During a series of heated evidence sessions a the parliament, SNP MSP Alex Neil told police bosses that "it's not the Kremlin you're running", claiming there was a "secret society" within the group's board.
Labour MSP Mary Fee, who leads the sub-committee, raised the matter with Mr Matheson at a chamber question session.
"Andrew Flanagan has lost the confidence of MSPs from all parties, including government backbenchers," she said.
"It is clear his position is untenable; it seems Mr Flanagan and the justice secretary are the last two people to see that.
"We need a drastic overhaul of how the SPA is run, and this must start with the very top of the SPA board. We need leadership from the Scottish Police Authority, but we don't have that at the moment.
"If Andrew Flanagan isn't going to do the right thing and resign, then we need leadership from the Scottish government.
"What will it take for the government to take action?"
Mr Matheson said he was "conscious of the issues" raised by the committees, which he said would be considered carefully before any decision was taken.
He said: "Once we've had the opportunity to consider [committee reports] in detail, we'll be able to respond to these matters.
"I'm sure the member would recognise that it's important ministers do give thorough consideration to these issues in coming to a determination on these matters."
He later added: "On the issue of SPA governance, there is no doubt that there are aspects of the way in which the SPA has operated over the last four years that have not worked as well as they should have. There area areas where I believe it could make further improvements.
"I've been very clear about the need for the SPA to ensure that it operates in an open and transparent manner.
"There is no doubt that there have been improvements in the way in which the SPA has been operating.
"But notwithstanding that, I recognise the concerns that have been raised, and I can give the member an assurance that they will be considered very carefully and that the government will then come to a position once it's considered all these matters."
MSPs from the other opposition parties also criticised Mr Flanagan.
Tory justice spokesman Douglas Ross said the evidence was "very clear" that "Andrew Flanagan's time as chair of the Scottish Police Authority should be over and it's certainly untenable that he continues".
Green MSP John Finnie, a former policeman, said: "Andrew Flanagan's position is untenable and he must go".
Lib Dem member Liam McArthur said Mr Flanagan had seemed "contrite" in committee meetings, but questioned whether a culture shift at the SPA was possible without a change at the top.
Mr Matheson subsequently underlined that it was important that due process was followed.
In response to the sub-committee's report, Mr Flanagan said he would consider it "very carefully" and "reflect on its contents".
He said: "I have publicly acknowledged recent mistakes without caveat or qualification. I also believe that in my time in office I have brought much improvement and clarity to the strategy, governance, sustainability, and relationships within policing.
"I remain focused on building a broad consensus around my continuing leadership of the SPA, and my contribution to a stable and collaborative leadership within policing as a whole."


More strikes at museums across Wales have been announced as part of a two-year dispute over weekend working.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) said the strikes would run every weekend from 9 April to 1 May.
It follows a strike over Easter after talks about a pay row broke down.
National Museum Wales said it was facing a 4.7% cut in its annual grant in aid from the Welsh Government and weekend payments cost about Â£750,000 a year.
PCS members have been protesting against plans to stop extra payments to weekend and bank holiday staff.
The union announced the further strikes, saying museum bosses had "dashed hopes of a negotiated settlement on Thursday".
PCS Wales Secretary, Shavanah Taj, said: "We are very disappointed that we are once more in the position of having to take strike action in order to get management's attention.
"All we are asking is that the lowest-paid not be expected to bear the brunt of budget cuts."
The strikes will affect Big Pit in Blaenavon, St Fagans and the National Museum in Cardiff, the National Wool Museum in Llandysul, the National Slate Museum in Llanberis, and the Swansea Waterfront Museum.


Prince Harry said those who lost their lives during the Afghanistan conflict will be "forever in our hearts" as he unveiled a memorial to their sacrifice.

The Bastion Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire, bears the names of all 453 UK personnel who died in Afghanistan.
He told their family and friends during the service of dedication that it would be a "place of pilgrimage" for them.
Some 3,500 people, including Prime Minister David Cameron, attended.
Military representatives, military charities and organisations, the UK's Nato allies and other senior politicians were also present.
A one-minute silence was observed during the service in memory of those lost.
The memorial, which replicates the design of the original memorial wall in Camp Bastion, was blessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury at a commemoration service at St Paul's Cathedral in March.
Harry said it "reflected the spirit of the old one"
The prince laid a wreath of poppies, with the message: "The fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sister named on this memorial, will forever be in our thoughts and prayers, as are those who miss them so dearly."
The sun glinted from the cross made of shell-casings that sits atop the memorial wall that once stood at the heart of Camp Bastion.
It is engraved with the names of the 453 British servicemen and women who died between 2001 and 2014.
Before laying a wreath, Prince Harry - himself a veteran of that war - spoke with feeling of the pain of loss, saying that each person who had lost a loved one would feel a different emotion: "grief, sorrow, loss, anger, or regret for that left unsaid."
For Jacqui Thompson, the widow of Senior Aircraftsman Gary Thompson, the oldest serviceman to be killed, the loss is still raw.
She visited the National Memorial Arboretum when the wall was being rebuilt here, and a locket she wore in Gary's memory is now embedded within it; a small comfort for the widow and five daughters that he left behind.
Rifleman William Aldridge was the youngest serviceman to die. He turned 18 just months before he was killed by a Taliban bomb in 2009.
Today, for the first time, his mother Lucy saw her son's name on the memorial.
The war itself may be over, but for the families who've lost their loved ones, the pain goes on, although here at the memorial wall, their names and their sacrifice will live on.
Harry said: "As we sit here amongst friends, we can take comfort in the knowledge that they gave their lives doing a job they loved, for a country they loved, and amongst mates who loved them dearly."
He added: "Once this ceremony is ended and all the trappings of the day have been cleared away, this will become a place of pilgrimage, a quiet space for remembrance just as it was in Camp Bastion, all those miles away."
Harry leaves the Army this month after a 10-year career, having action in Afghanistan twice - most recently in 2012, when he served as an Apache helicopter co-pilot and gunner.
See the full list of those who died in Afghanistan here.
The foundations of the memorial incorporates material from the original wall, with the brass plaques from the original memorial brought back from Afghanistan to be encased within the new granite structure.
It also features a cross made of shell casings from the original structure, Afghan pebble chippings and the last union flag to fly over the memorial at Camp Bastion.
140,000
UK troops served
Â£21.5bn
Total operational cost
453  UK troops killed
108 died in 2009 - the worst year
470 mentors staying on
UK forces were part of a US-led coalition which invaded Afghanistan and toppled the ruling Taliban in 2001, following the 9/11 attacks in the US.
At the peak of the 13-year campaign the UK military had 9,500 troops and 137 bases in Helmand Province.
The UK ended its operations in Afghanistan in October, while Nato finished its mission in December.


The government has said local authorities should fund improvements to a train service claimed by campaigners to be "one of the worst in the UK".

Journey times between Lincoln and Nottingham are now slower than they were 100 years ago, according to campaign group Rail Fair.
It has called on the government to fund upgrade work on the line.
East Midlands Trains, which currently runs the route, said additional funding was needed to improve journey times.
A spokeswoman for the company said: "We have worked hard to improve the service between Nottingham and Lincoln and have provided our passengers with refurbished trains and an additional evening service.
She added: "We are currently using all of the trains made available by the government for the East Midlands Trains franchise to deliver the maximum possible capacity across our network.
"The faster journey times and increase in capacity needed for the Nottingham to Lincoln route would need additional carriages and additional funding and this can only be made possible through a change to the existing franchise."
In March, this was extended to run until October 2017.
Earlier this year, Rail Fair - which claims the line is the "worst in the UK" -  started a petition calling for the government to take action over proposals, which include  additional services and signalling work to allow trains to travel faster.
It said reducing journey times and increasing capacity would provide real benefits for both cities.
Business organisations and councils want an extra two trains per hour between the stations.
The Department of Transport has confirmed it was in talks with Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire county councils.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport said: "It is for local authorities to take the lead in identifying and funding service improvements that primarily address local needs.
"We have had a number of discussions with officers from both Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire County Council and Newark Business Club to assist them in the development of business cases."
But Chris Briggs, head of transport at Lincolnshire County Council, said: "We urge the government strongly to give Lincoln due consideration when they talk about improving rail."
He added: "It would cost about Â£2.1m to get it up and running and Lincolnshire County Council would need to find about Â£750,000.
"That's a lot of money in a time of austerity."
However, he added that the council was considering the value of the scheme and would possibly consider making funding available if it proved worthwhile.


Cardiff City have signed Brighton winger Craig Noone on a four-year deal.

Noone, 24, has become Malky Mackay's ninth signing of the summer for a fee believed to be £1m.
The Liverpool-born wideman started his career at Plymouth Argyle before joining the Seagulls for £300,000 in January 2011.
Noone, who has scored 11 goals in 60 appearances for Brighton, Exeter and Plymouth, is expected to make his debut at home to Wolves on Sunday.
Cardiff have already signed Craig Bellamy,Tommy Smith,Heidar Helguson,Matthew Connolly,Joe Lewis,Jordan Mutch,Kim Bo-Kyung, and Etien Velikonja this summer.


Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has described the Dutch government as "Nazi remnants and fascists", amid a diplomatic row over a cancelled rally.

Turkey's family minister was blocked from entering the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam as the spat between the two nations worsened on Saturday.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Mr Erdogan's remark was "way out of line".
Earlier, a rally in the city due to be hosted by the Turkish foreign minister was banned for security reasons.
Turkey has summoned the Dutch charge d'affaires to the foreign ministry in Ankara for an explanation.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had been hoping to harness the votes of the Turkish diaspora in the Netherlands, home to some 400,000 Turks, ahead of a referendum in Turkey next month on whether to expand Mr Erdogan's powers.
Austria, Germany and Switzerland have banned similar gatherings where Turkish officials were due to speak.
On Saturday, Turkey's family minister, Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, was stopped by police as she tried to enter the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam after arriving from Germany, where she had held separate meetings.
Dutch news broadcaster NOS ran footage of the minister arriving at the consulate and being denied entry by security forces.
"We were stopped at the Consulate General of Rotterdam, 30 metres away, and are not allowed to enter," Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya wrote on Twitter.
She travelled by land to the Dutch city after hearing that the plane carrying Mr Cavusoglu had been refused permission to land.
Dutch police earlier closed the road leading to the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam for security reasons.
On Saturday evening, hundreds of people waving Turkish flags gathered outside the consulate building in protest.
Dozens of supporters of Mr Erdogan stood near the entrance as police erected barriers to prevent demonstrators from getting too close.
As the crowd numbers increased throughout the evening, security was stepped up and people were later dispersed.
President Erdogan reacted to the ban on his foreign minister by threatening to block Dutch flights.
He said: "Ban our foreign minister from flying however much you like, but from now on, let's see how your flights will land in Turkey."
Mr Cavusoglu also warned Turkey would impose heavy sanctions if his visit were blocked.
Mr Rutte warned in a statement (in Dutch) that the Turkish threat of sanctions made "the search for a reasonable solution impossible".
Mr Rutte also stressed that Dutch officials had earlier discussed whether the planned rally with Mr Cavusoglu could be private and "smaller-scale" and held in a Turkish consulate or embassy.
The Netherlands "regrets the course of events, and remains committed to dialogue with Turkey," the statement added.
Analysis - Mark Lowen, Turkey Correspondent
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a canny political operator. While his falling-out with key European allies and explosive comparisons to the Nazis may seem chaotic, it's quite possibly all planned by a man who knows he thrives as the underdog.
Sending Turkish ministers to Europe when relations with Turkey are flagging and some European states are nearing elections was never going to be warmly welcomed by the German or Dutch governments.
They rose to the bait - and it has allowed Mr Erdogan to paint this is as a conspiracy against Turkey and himself as the nationalist Turkish hero fending off the European oppressor.
That will rally his support base and the far-right nationalists he's trying to woo before the presidential referendum next month.
But it will horrify the other side of Turkey - the pro-European liberals who see their country drifting ever further from the west and their President engaging in unprecedented slander against other Nato allies.
The diplomatic row comes just days before Dutch voters go to the polls.
The election campaign has been dominated by issues of identity, the BBC's Anna Holligan in The Hague says.
The anti-Islam leader of the Freedom Party, Geert Wilders - who campaigned against the Turkish minister's visit - is expected to make significant gains, our correspondent adds.
Last week, Mr Erdogan accused Berlin of "Nazi practices" after a number of his rallies were cancelled, drawing a sharp response from the German government.
He is seeking to extend his powers in the 16 April vote and targeting millions of expatriate voters - including 1.4 million in Germany.
There is uncertainty about whether an event Mr Cavusoglu was due to attend in Zurich, Switzerland, on Sunday would go ahead after one venue refused to hold it.
Another event in Zurich scheduled for Friday was cancelled, as were rallies in the Austrian towns of Hoerbranz, Linz and Herzogenburg.
The Dutch and Austrian governments have criticised the Turkish government's drive to take its referendum campaign to Turks based in EU countries.
Relations between Turkey and European countries have deteriorated since last July's attempted coup in Turkey. Germany has been critical of the mass arrests and purges that followed - with nearly 100,000 civil servants removed from their posts.
Many European nations have expressed deep disquiet about Turkey's response to the coup attempt and its perceived slide towards authoritarianism under President Erdogan.
Turkey is a key partner in an arrangement attempting to limit the movement of migrants into the EU, but has threatened to "open the gates" if the EU reneges on commitments to provide aid, visa-free travel for its nationals and accelerated membership talks.


Walsall moved into third in League One after Tom Bradshaw's 17th goal of the season was enough to beat Fleetwood.

The home side came close to going ahead early on when Wesley Burns' fierce effort whistled just over the bar.
Bradshaw latched on to Sam Mantom's smart backheel with a powerful strike to open the scoring from a tight angle just after the break.
Devante Cole forced Walsall keeper Neil Etheridge into a fantastic save deep into injury-time to preserve the win.
Walsall interim head coach Jon Whitney told BBC WM:
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"I've said to the lads, whenever I've been involved in promotion as a player and as staff, there's games that you remember.
"We knew this was going to be a tough, tough game. I thought they were unlucky at Burton.
"Credit to our lads, we dug in, we made the change when it was needed and I think after the change they struggled to live with us a little bit.
"Again our lads have come out on top with a fantastic 1-0 away win."


A global arena tour and a few million more album sales earned Adele £40m last year, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

The pop star's fortune rose from £85m to £125m - meaning she's the richest solo female musician in the paper's annual wealth survey.
But she's only joint 19th in the list of the UK and Ireland's richest music acts, which is dominated by older men.
Sir Paul McCartney is in the top spot with £780m with wife Nancy Shevell.
They are followed by West End mogul Lord Lloyd-Webber, U2, Sir Elton John, Sir Mick Jagger and his Rolling Stones bandmate Keith Richards.
Adele is tied in 19th place on £125m with Queen guitarist Brian May.
The rise in her bank balance was put down to a 122-date global arena tour, which has earned an estimated £138m at box offices, and the continued success of her third album 25, which sold 2.4 million copies around the world in 2016.
The singer will play four sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium this summer - but has hinted that she may not tour again after that, which could limit her future earnings.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.


Well-known republican Bobby Storey has been arrested over the murder of former IRA man Kevin McGuigan Sr.

Mr McGuigan Sr was shot dead at his home in east Belfast last month, and police said members of the Provisional IRA were involved in the killing.
Mr Storey was one of three men, aged 59, 45 and 58, arrested by police in north and west Belfast on Wednesday.
The other two arrested, Eddie Copeland and Brian Gillen, are also well-known republicans.
Mr Storey, a former IRA prisoner, is the northern chairman of Sinn Féin.
In 2005, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MP David Burnside told the House of Commons under parliamentary privilege that Mr Storey was the head of intelligence for the IRA.
Mr Storey is a close ally of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and has an office at Stormont.
Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness said he was "surprised" to learn about Mr Storey's arrest.
"Bobby Storey is a valued member of Sinn Féin's core leadership," the deputy first minister said.
"He has played a leading role in the development of Sinn Féin's peace strategy and is a long-standing and loyal supporter, defender and advocate of the peace and political processes.
"We look forward with confidence to his early release."
The Police Service of Northern Ireland's Chief Constable George Hamilton said last month that Provisional IRA members had a role in Mr McGuigan Sr's murder.
But he added there was no evidence at that stage that the killing had been sanctioned at a senior level of the organisation.
Sinn Féin said the IRA no longer exists after it ordered an end to its armed campaign in 2005.
A total of 16 people have been arrested in connection with Mr McGuigan Sr's murder.
One person has been charged, while the others were released unconditionally.
After Wednesday's arrests, First Minister Peter Robinson tweeted: "These events were predicted in my statement on Monday.
"No-one can be above the law. That is why we sought adjournment of the assembly.
"We will do so again. Hopefully the UUP will support us this time, rather than voting with Sinn Féin for business as usual," he added.
UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said the "political implications could not be more serious and profound".
He said his MPs would meet Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday to discuss the arrests.
"That is how serious it is being treated in Downing Street," he added.
The UUP leader said he had no prior knowledge that the arrests were going to be made, but said he had been "given to believe that the situation could become blacker".
In 2001, Mr Robinson told the House of Commons that Mr Gillen was a member of the IRA's ruling army council.
Mr Copeland is a leading republican from north Belfast.
In 1994, former UUP leader David Trimble used parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons to describe him as an IRA godfather.
A year earlier, he was seriously injured when he was shot by a soldier, and has survived a number of attempts on his life by loyalist paramilitaries.
The three men are being questioned at Antrim police station.
The murder of Mr McGuigan Sr sparked a crisis in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government after the police assessment of IRA involvement.
The UUP said Sinn Féin's denial that the IRA existed made it "impossible to do business with them" and subsequently left the Northern Ireland Executive.
The Democratic Unionist Party said there would be no more meetings of the executive unless in "exceptional circumstances".
A fresh round of talks between the main political parties got under way on Tuesday.


The government says it will increase the levy on banks from 0.078% to 0.088% from 1 January.

So what is the levy? What's really at stake? And why raise the rate now?
What is the bank levy?
It is an annual tax on the value of all of the debts of the UK banks (including money deposited with the banks), except that:
Originally, the Treasury had planned to charge a lower rate of 0.05% during 2011, but in February it changed its mind, and switched to the standard rate of 0.075% from May.
The standard rate was originally set at 0.075%, but it was raised slightly in March to 0.078%, and is now being raised again, to 0.088%, from January.
What's it for?
The government thinks it will discourage banks from relying on risky forms of borrowing, which were blamed for making the 2008 crisis much more dangerous.
The tax will also raise a lot of money for the government.
So will this help deal with the budget deficit?
The Treasury hopes the tax will bring in £2.6bn every year.
That's equivalent to 2.1% of the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast for the budget deficit this year.
It's no small amount for the banks either. It's equivalent to about 19% of the reported profits before tax of the big five UK banks over the 12 months to September this year - although the tax burden will be borne by more than just these five.
What's risky about the type of borrowing that the government wants to discourage?
Traditionally, most of the money that banks lend out comes from the deposits they receive from ordinary people and companies.
But during the past decade, banks found new and more complex ways to borrow trillions of pounds from international markets.
Unlike ordinary deposits, there is no natural limit on the availability of this money, as it can come from anywhere in the globe, and the same money can be recycled between the banks again and again.
A lot of the debts created were very short-term - meaning the banks needed to go back to the markets to reborrow every few days.
When the financial crisis hit, investors began to worry that banks might not be able to repay their debts.
This caused a kind of bank run, with investors refusing to lend.
Unable to refinance all of their short-term debts, even profitable banks were threatened with failure.
Why are retail deposits exempt from the levy?
Bank runs are popularly associated with long queues of ordinary depositors wanting to empty their bank accounts - just as happened to Northern Rock.
But since the 1930s, governments have insured most of the money deposited by their citizens in order to discourage these depositor bank runs. Indeed, the government responded to the Northern Rock crisis by promising to guarantee all of its deposits.
In the UK, the first £85,000 of an individual's money is insured (it used to be £35,000 before the financial crisis).
This means that most depositors do not need to worry about the safety of their money during a financial crisis, and the banks don't need to worry about all those deposits being withdrawn.
So why not just insure all the banks' borrowings?
The bank levy was actually first proposed to all countries by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a type of insurance scheme.
The IMF said the money raised should be channelled into a special fund that could be used to pay for the cost of cleaning up future banking crises.
However, the UK government took the view that these borrowings are inherently risky, and wanted to discourage them altogether by taxing them.
If the debts were insured, lenders would see them as less risky, making them a cheaper and easier way for banks to borrow.
The government's fear is that the banks would then just continue taking on more and more debt, until they became impossibly large to rescue - as proved the case in the Republic of Ireland or Iceland.
Indeed, the total debts of the UK's banks had already reached a staggering 4.5 times the size of the entire UK economy before the crisis.
Some might also point out another reason why the government chose not to go for an insurance scheme.
By making it a tax instead, the revenue raised can be channelled straight to the Treasury, helping to pay for the government's own spending.
Why is the first £20bn of debts exempt from the tax?
The government wants to encourage banks to shrink.
The thinking is that the collapse of a big bank could threaten the stability of the entire financial system, whereas the failure of a small bank should not.
The £20bn figure is about the size of the Coventry Building Society. So it means banks will only pay the tax to the extent they are bigger than that.
Why is the tax rate lower on long-term debts?
Longer-term debts are inherently less risky.
Financial crises - at least the most intense part of them - tend to be over in a matter of a few weeks or months.
If a bank does not have to repay its debts for more than a year, then it can probably ride out the crisis.
Will the levy really discourage banks?
The tax will increase the cost of "risky" short-term borrowing for banks by just under one-tenth of a percentage point.
This may seem small, but it will eat into the banks' precious margins - the difference between the interest they pay on their deposits and what they earn on their lending - which is their main source of income.
However, the banks may pass some of the tax cost on to their savers (via a lower deposit rate) or their borrowers (via a higher lending rate).
But to get the 0.088% in context, the Bank of England slashed short-term borrowing costs by 5.2 percentage points in response to the financial crisis.
Why did the government want to phase the levy in?
The original plan was to charge 0.05% for 2011, before going up to the full 0.075% rate next year (increased to 0.078% in March).
The government didn't want to raise the banks' borrowing costs at a time when their financial stability was still in question.
They also did not want to sap the banks' profits too quickly.
The banks might need to use all the profits they could get to rebuild their capital - their buffer against future losses - in order to meet tough new international standards being set by the Basel committee of banking regulators.
So why did the government change its mind?
In February, the Treasury said it wanted to charge the full £2.6bn this year after all.
It pointed to the Bank of England's latest Financial Stability Report, which painted a much rosier picture of the UK's banks.
Moreover, the new Basel rules on bank capital won't take full effect until 2019, giving banks a full eight years to meet the higher standards.
It probably also helped that the banks have been reporting much better profits than many would have expected a year ago.
And markets seemed less and less concerned about the risk of lending to banks - at least until the eurozone debt crisis flared up since the summer of 2011.
Why is the government raising the rate again?
The chancellor raised the rate to 0.088% in his Autumn Statement.
According to the Treasury, the tax was not on course to raise the £2.6bn originally planned for this year.
The Treasury said that it had simply overestimated how much borrowing is done by foreign banks in the UK - and is therefore subject to the tax.
It could also be that banks have been reducing their borrowing. Foreign banks may be moving their borrowing offshore to avoid the tax.
And all banks may be cutting back their borrowing and lending requirements in response to the recession, the eurozone financial crisis, and stricter regulatory requirements.
Which banks will have to pay most?
The Treasury does not say how much of its £2.6bn target it expects to be paid by each bank.
British banks face a bigger burden than foreign banks that do business in the UK, because the British banks must pay the levy on all their borrowing worldwide, and not just on their borrowing in the UK.
That has led to suggestions that some banks - perhaps Standard Chartered, HSBC and Barclays - may relocate their headquarters to another country in order to reduce their tax bill.
Moreover, the probability is that the tax will hit Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group hardest.
It may seem perverse to tax most heavily the two banks in which the government has the biggest stake.
But one of the reasons the government ended up owning these banks is precisely because they (in the case of Lloyds, because of its merger with the Halifax) had become too dependent on riskier forms of financing, and had to be rescued during the crisis.


BBC Click's Stephen Beckett looks at some of the best of the week's technology news, including the news that Nasa releases new images of Mars.

12 August 2016 Last updated at 10:27 BST
Plus, the games developer who wants to cycle the length of the UK using virtual reality and Google Street View.
More at BBC.com/Click and @BBCClick.


Football fans from both Bristol clubs have set off on a sponsored walk to Wembley in aid of a Whitchurch boy with cerebral palsy.

Bristol City and Rovers supporters are helping to raise Â£70,000 to pay for surgery to help Oskar Pycroft to walk.
Surgery which would reduce the pain in six-year-old Oskar's legs is unavailable on the NHS.
He is due to lead City out at Wembley for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final against Walsall on Sunday.
The surgery, called selective dorsal rhyzotomy (SDR), involves locating malfunctioning nerves and cutting them. It would also reduce bone deformations which occur as he grows.
The surgery would be carried out in hospital in the US.


Norwich City have completed the loan signing of Newcastle United midfielder Jonas Gutierrez until 30 June.

The £3m-rated Argentine, 30, wrote on Twitter at the weekend that he would be leaving St James' Park imminently.
Gutierrez was a key man in the Magpies squad that Chris Hughton, now Canaries manager, led to promotion from the Championship in 2010.
Gutierrez has celebrated scoring goals by wearing a Spiderman mask. It relates to a cinema trip during his time at Real Mallorca, when a boy asked if Gutierrez could score for him and the Argentine said he would put a Spiderman mask on if he did so as that was the boy's favourite film.
Hughton said: "Jonas can play on either flank and in a central position, so he's a very welcome addition."
Gutierrez, who has played just twice for Newcastle this season, said: "I'm happy to be here. It's an opportunity for me to get back in the game and try and do my best for the team."
The former Velez Sarsfield player has made 163 league appearances for the Magpies since he joined from Mallorca in July 2008, scoring 10 goals.
"He's somebody that will certainly bring experience - he's played close to 200 games for Newcastle so he knows the Premier League very well," said Hughton.
"He's been in England for five years, so there won't be that settling-in period that you would have with some other players. That's important, particularly in January when you need players that can go straight into the squad."


The former speaker of Niger's parliament, Hama Amadou, will not be released from prison to campaign for elections, Niger's court of appeals has said.

Mr Amadou was arrested in November 2015 for baby-trafficking charges after fleeing to France for a year.
He filed for provisional release to run in the elections but Judge Ibrahim Harouna denied the appeal on Monday.
Mr Amadou says the accusations against him are politically motivated.
The Constitutional Court on Saturday approved him to stand in elections. The court of appeals did not give a reason for the verdict.
Mr Amadou's second wife was arrested in June 2014 along with 16 others, accused of illegally buying new-borns from "baby factories" in south-east Nigeria - where babies are allegedly sold for thousands of dollars. All denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Amadou - a leading opposition presidential candidate - was then arrested in November 2015 after living in exile in France.
Mr Amadou's supporters say the charges were fabricated to prevent him from running against President Mahamadou Issouffou in the 21 February presidential election.
"With this rejection of conditional release, the regime succeeded with its first knock-out blow," his lawyer, Souley Oumara, said.
The BBC's Abdourahmane Dia says that Mr Amadou now has five days to appeal against the decision - or risk following the election from his prison cell.
Tensions have been rising in Niger ahead of the elections. On Monday, lawyers in the country staged a 24-hour strike to oppose what they call the arbitrary arrest of government opponents.
In December, President Mahamadou Issoufou said his government had foiled a plot to overthrow him.
He is the favourite to win elections, though critics accuse him of becoming increasingly authoritarian as the vote nears.
The campaign for the presidential election is due to start on 31 January, with 15 candidates vying for the presidency.


England's leading Test wicket-taker James Anderson is set to join the squad ahead of the first Test against India.

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Anderson, 34, was left out of the 16-man party to tour India after missing the tour of Bangladesh with a shoulder injury.
He will not play in the first Test but could appear in the second after making a quick recovery.
"It's a credit to the hunger he has shown to get back," captain Alastair Cook told BBC Radio 5 live.
"There's nothing more he can do, apart from coming out here and getting acclimatised and get some more overs in."
England will play five Tests against number one ranked side India, starting in Rajkot on 9 November.
Anderson, who has taken 463 wickets since making his Test debut in 2003, made six Test appearances for England over the summer.
He missed the first Test against Pakistan at Lord's in July due to a shoulder problem but returned to take nine wickets in the remaining three Tests.
England will not play any practice games throughout the Test series, which Cook described as "not ideal".
"I don't think it matters quite so much now after Bangladesh but maybe during the series, the guys who haven't played or haven't done as well as they like, could play a game away from Test cricket," he added.
Lancashire teenager Haseeb Hameed could make his debut in Rajkot as England look to come back from a batting collapse in Bangladesh that saw them lose 10 wickets for 64 runs.
"If he does get thrown into the cauldron, I think he'll handle it very well," coach Trevor Bayliss said.
"He's very much part of the squad and it feels like he's been here for two or three years."


The effectiveness of Birmingham City Council's arrangements for protecting children has been judged "inadequate".

A surprise inspection last month found some children had been left at risk of harm, a report from Ofsted said.
Council leader Sir Albert Bore said it made "very distressing reading", but some improvement had been recognised.
Birmingham Social Services was served with an improvement notice in 2009 following several child deaths, including the case of Khyra Ishaq.
Ofsted rated the council's child protection services inadequate in 2010 but a report from inspectors in October 2011 found they were improving.
The children's services department remains in special measures as a result of the successive improvement notices from Ofsted, the council confirmed.
The latest report said the Labour-run authority's arrangements for protecting children were inadequate in all four areas listed: overall effectiveness, the effectiveness of the help and protection provided to children, young people, families and carers, the quality of practice and leadership and governance.
The report said the inspection "found that too many children and young people are left for too long without a robust assessment, leaving some children at risk of harm".
Children and young people subject to child protection plans "do not always receive statutory visits from social workers", it added.
By Elizabeth GlinkaBBC WM political reporter
After huge cuts to local authority spending in the last few years there are those that question whether the impact is now being felt in front-line services.
In 2012/13, Birmingham's Children's and Young People's services is aiming to save nearly Â£22m.
Council leader, Labour's Sir Albert Bore, said the problems highlighted by inspectors were failings of management and not heavy case loads, which he said had been reduced in recent years.
But Sue Kent, from the British Association of Social Workers, said while leadership was key, it would be foolish to rule out the impact of funding cuts.
But Ofsted said the new director of children's services, Peter Duxbury, was "a key driver" in some recent changes and was "taking forward improvements".
Mr Duxbury said he accepted the criticism but also noted the report highlighted some instances of good practice and referred to notable improvements.
He said: "Things aren't good, we need to improve very rapidly.
"We are set on the right course. Ofsted recognise that and things will improve significantly over the next 12 months.
"Whilst we have seen in this city and other areas some very tragic and avoidable situations of serious harm to children, sadly there are a large number of cases nationally where injuries to children just are not preventable or predictable."
Sir Albert said it was "simply not acceptable" that services for children and families in the city continued to be poor.
He added: "We are clear about what needs to be done and we have already put systems in place, such as intensive training programmes so staff learn from our best managers.
"There must be significant improvement over the next 12 months."
Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board, a statutory partnership board with responsibility for co-ordinating work to safeguard children, said it accepted the report's findings that changes the board was leading "have not yet had a good enough impact on children's lives".
A Department for Education spokesman said: "There has been some progress but it's clear that there is still a huge amount to do before children's services are fit for purpose. We're working with Birmingham to make sure robust action is taken urgently."
A serious case review by the Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board into the death in 2008 of seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq, who was mistreated at a house in Handsworth, found it could have been prevented.
Her mother was sentenced to 15 years in prison after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Khyra's stepfather was jailed indefinitely after his manslaughter plea was accepted and must serve a minimum of seven-and-half years.
Elsewhere in the West Midlands, Sandwell Council's children's services were rated as inadequate in 2009, but an adequate rating was given after Ofsted inspectors returned in January this year.
Inspectors visiting Walsall in June 2012 rated safeguarding services as inadequate.
But Walsall Council said in the next few weeks it was likely to receive a type of improvement notice from the government showing it had taken steps towards making children's services better.


An oil tanker hijacked by pirates last week in the South China Sea has been released, the Malaysian Navy says.

It says eight hijackers fled the Orkim Harmony ship in a rescue boat late on Thursday. The vessel is now being escorted to a Malaysian port.
All 22 crew members were safe, however one of them was slightly injured.
The tanker had disappeared off the coast of Singapore on 11 June. Reports said it was taken by Indonesian pirates armed with pistols and machetes.
Malaysian navy ships and aircraft are now hunting the fleeing pirates, the authorities say.
It is the second ship hijacked in the area in the last few weeks.
After Orkim Harmony was hijacked, the pirates repainted the ship and changed the name to Kim Harmon.
But an air and sea search effort located the tanker near Vietnamese waters late on Wednesday.
Malaysian naval warships then shadowed the ship urging the pirates to surrender.
Late on Thursday, the pirates fled, abandoning Orkim Hamon.
Chief of Malaysian Navy Abdul Aziz Jaafar said on Twitter that all 22 crew on board were unharmed except an Indonesian cook who is "injured at the thigh due to a gun-shot by the robbers".
Orkim Harmony is now proceeding to Kuantan Port escorted by a Navy ship and will arrive early on Saturday, Mr Jaafar added.


Dover maintained their National League promotion push at the expense of Wrexham at the Racecourse Stadium.

Dover rise to third while Wrexham are now six points off the top five after Ricky Modeste's second half winner proved decisive in a tense contest.
Modeste fired home off the post after Sam Magri's effort in a game low on quality chances.
James Gray hit the crossbar as Wrexham pushed for an equaliser, while Simon Heslop also came close.
Wrexham manager Gary Mills told BBC Radio Wales: "It's a disappointing day for us and we never really got going. I've said to the players that there's no point in us looking at that now, the final whistle's gone.
"We've got four games left . It's tougher but still doable and we've got to win on Tuesday at Guiseley.
"If we win on Tuesday then we got to Tranmere to beat them to go above them and that's as simple as it is. We battle on."


A union says it will instruct members to wear dresses if a dispute over a hospital porter suspended for rolling up his trousers in hot weather is not resolved.

Michael Wood, a porter at Watford General Hospital, said he was facing disciplinary action from his employers Medirest.
The company says porters should "wear appropriate uniform at all times".
The GMB said it would tell porters to wear dresses if he was not reinstated.
The row follows a successful protest by boys at protest on Thursday by about 30 boys at the ISCA Academy in Exeter who wore skirts to school because shorts were not part of the school's uniform. The school has now changed the rules meaning boys will be allowed to shorts in lessons from next year.
Union official Mick Dooley said: "What we're hoping to do is get round the table and get Michael back to work, failing that, the chief executive of Watford General Hospital, [is] going to see her porters wearing dresses.
"We're going to put out a message to porters [to start] wearing dresses and start wearing skirts."
Mr Wood, 46, said he rolled up his black-coloured polyester trousers to three-quarter-length on Wednesday - the hottest June day for 40 years - but was called to the office and asked to roll them down again.
When he said he "could not promise" not to roll them back up, he was sent home.
"Our health and safety is paramount in the hospital, when you're struggling to work when you're sweating, you become irritable and argumentative," Mr Wood said.
"I wouldn't mind wearing a dress - at least I'd be cool."
On Wednesday, temperatures in nearby Harpenden peaked at 31.5C.
Mr Dooley said: "Because of the unusually high temperatures, the NHS managers in Watford General have adopted a reasonable approach towards their workforce.
"However, Medirest consider suspending safety reps is the preferred option."
He said Mr Wood had been "treated unfairly" and "should be reinstated immediately".
Medirest said it would be inappropriate to comment on an individual case where an investigation is ongoing but added the "health and safety of our colleagues is always our number one priority".
"Due to the nature of their job and health and safety requirements, it is important that porters wear appropriate uniform at all times," a statement said.


Senegal striker Sadio Mane was not ready to take on responsibility for the team at the Africa Cup of Nations, says former Teranga Lion Salif Diao.

Mane missed a penalty in the quarter-final shoot-out loss to Cameroon.
"It was sad what happened," Diao told BBC Sport. "Maybe we expected more but he hasn't got that maturity yet.
"Probably after one or two more years with his club Liverpool, he will be a lot stronger and able to take the Senegal team on his shoulders."
Diao made 39 appearances for Senegal and was part of the team that lost to Cameroon in the 2002 Nations Cup final in Mali, so he has a sense of what Mane is going through.
He also played 37 times for Liverpool and Diao believes the club can support Mane and help the 24-year-old recover from the setback.
"The quicker he can play again in the Premier League with Liverpool, the better," Diao added.
"Hopefully he will be playing as soon as possible, hopefully he will be scoring goals again and get his confidence back because missing the penalty was a big blow and I really feel sorry for the kid."
Liverpool arranged for a private jet to fly Mane back from the Nations Cup to give him a chance of facing Premier League leaders Chelsea at Anfield on Tuesday.