Details of the lie which ended the career of the chief executive of BP can today be made public.

Lord Browne of Madingley resigned from his role as one of the world's most successful oil executives yesterday, after failing to stop the publication of a damaging newspaper interview given by a former gay lover.

As he made his judgment, Lord Justice Eady also revealed that the multi-millionaire had lied under oath that he met Jeff Chevalier, his Canadian ex-boyfriend, while exercising in Battersea Park.

In fact, it can today be confirmed that the couple met through an online male escort agency, suitedandbooted.com.

The site, which offers 100 escorts and displays pictures of many of them naked, claims to be London's number one agency, offering a friendly and personal service.

"The UK's first and now largest web based agency," its front page reads.

This afternoon, the suitedandbooted.com site appeared to have been taken down. A visit to its homepage simply reveals the following message: "We apologise that suitedandbooted.com website is down due to technical reasons."

Making his judgment, Mr Justice Eady said he was not prepared to make allowances for Lord Browne's "white lie" about where he met his partner, when a key part of his case was to discredit the word of Mr Chevalier.

The judge added that Lord Browne had tried to "thrash" Mr Chevalier's reputation and discredit him, but he said there would be little point of referring his lie to the Attorney General for a perjury investigation.

Today - despite the former BP boss issuing a statement saying that it was "a matter of deep regret" that he had initially lied - Lord Goldsmith was put under fresh pressure to examine the case against the former BP boss.

The Mail on Sunday, the newspaper which was preparing to publish an interview with Mr Chevalier, pledged to make its evidence on Lord Browne's deception available to the Attorney General, despite Mr Justice Eady's decision not to refer the matter.

"Jeffrey Archer and Jonathan Aitken went to prison for lying to the courts," the newspaper said in a statement.

Despite the threat to refer the case, it is considered likely that the Attorney General will back the judge's decision not to refer the matter.

Mr Chevalier's central allegations in his Mail on Sunday interview were that Lord Browne misused BP funds - as well as the company's facilities and staff - in order to help him set up a business in mobile phone ringtones.

Lord Browne "denied categorically" any allegations of misconduct, when he resigned his post yesterday.

"It is a matter of personal disappointment that a newspaper group has now decided that allegations about my personal life should be made public," his statement said.

The newspaper retorted that the article it sought to publish was "a business story involving issues of great importance to shareholders and employers of BP".

Lord Browne is believed to have lost a £3.5million leaving package and a potential £12million in share options by quitting earlier than his scheduled July leaving date.

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