THE ARCHBISHOP of York has publicly worn his dog collar for the first time in a decade, following the resignation of Robert Mugabe.

Doctor John Sentamu cut up his collar live on The Andrew Marr Show in 2007 in protest against the actions of the Zimbabwean President, as he said Mr Mugabe had "taken people’s identity" and "cut it to pieces", prompting him to do the same.

This morning, he appeared as a guest on the BBC One show, and Mr Marr presented him with the pieces of his original collar.

Mr Marr said: "You said to me back then 'here are the bits of my collar, keep them for me'. Nearly ten years on, I've got them for you, they've been sitting in my desk. They're in a slightly crumpled old envelope, but here they all are, I said I would give them back, so I'll give them back."

Dr Sentamu called Mr Marr "a faithful friend", and examined the pieces before the interviewer asked what he called "the million dollar question" - would he put a collar back on.

Dr Sentamu said to glue the pieces back together would create "a pretty ropey" collar, and produced a new collar as he spoke.

Dr Sentamu said: "I actually think the lesson for Zimbabwe is the same, they just can't try and stitch it up. Something more radical, something new needs to happen in terms of rule of law. Allowing people to get jobs, because 90 per cent of people are out of work, so they can't just stitch it up. I need a new collar.

"Andrew, I promised then when Mugabe goes I will put my collar on, so I have no choice but toput it back on after Mugabe has gone. But the new president has got to remember something more now than simply stitching up a thing will work."