David Cameron has defended his support for the troubled Kids Company charity amid repeated warnings about its financial viability.
A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) disclosed that £46 million of public money was poured into the now defunct charity despite officials raising concerns dating back to 2002.
Former children's minister Tim Loughton said that on one occasion his attempt to block a "very sizeable" grant had been overruled after its charismatic founder, Camila Batmanghelidjh, sent a "Dear David letter" direct to Number 10.
Speaking a press conference at the Northern Future Forum in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, the Prime Minister insisted that he had been right to give the charity "every chance" to keep going.
"My role in this has always been to try and help keep that organisation going because it was doing very good and important work," he said.
"I always judged that it was worth giving it one more go to try to get it to be financially viable. In the end sadly, that wasn't possible.
"But I certainly think it was right to give Kids Company every chance of a sustainable, viable future and that's why it had access to public money."