Despite the odd volcanic ash shower, the outlook for the Met Office is sunny, CEO John Hirst tells Philip Smith.

It had been a busy spell for John Hirst, and the dust, or ash in this case, still hadn’t settled. Apologising for keeping his iPhone switched on, the chief executive of the Met Office explained that his team of weather forecasters and meteorologists were still monitoring the position of the volcanic ash cloud that had brought UK airspace a to a standstill for six days in April.