Sports Minister Tony Banks has called for Bobby Moore's medals to be preserved for the nation after the footballer's first wife said she wants to sell them.

Mr Banks said the medals and trophies are as much part of England's heritage as Sir Winston Churchill's papers and suggested using lottery money to keep them.

Moore's first wife wants to sell them for around �2m and football fans fear they could be split up or leave the country.

Bobby Moore kisses the World Cup

"The great and the good so often dispose (of Lottery money) around the areas that they are most interested in," said Mr Banks.

"It was one of our greatest sporting moments and ... it would seem to be an appropriate aspect of history to be preserved with Lottery money

"That is only one of the suggestions. I am not saying that that is the only way it could be done."

Mr Banks also stressed that he was speaking as an MP, not as Sports Minister, and that he had no powers over the Lottery body.

His East London constituency includes Upton Park, where Moore captained West Ham United at the height of his career.
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