Bob Geldof, in a highly charged interview on Irish radio, offered to take in four families immediately and give them shelter in his homes in Kent and London. Geldof said: “If there’s a new economy then there needs to be a new politics, and it’s a failure of that new politics that’s led to this disgrace, this absolute sickening disgrace,” he said.

“I’m prepared – I’m lucky, I’ve a place in Kent and a flat in London – me and (partner) Jeanne would be prepared to take three families immediately in our place in Kent and a family in our flat in London, immediately, and put them up until such time as they can get going and get a purchase on their future.”

He told RTÉ the images of three-year-old Syrian Aylan Kurdi’s body being washed up on a Turkish beach, and other distressing reports from borders and cities across Europe, were a source of shame.

Geldof said he looked down at the increasingly desperate situation with “profound shame”.

“It is a monstrous betrayal of who we are and what we wish to be,” he said. “We are in a moment currently now that will be discussed and impacted on in 300 years time.”

Geldof has raised thousands for humanitarian causes and has visited refugee camps in Lampedusa, where thousands of African migrants have arrived.