A deal between Ecuador and the UK to hand over Julian Assange is ‘imminent’.

The new Ecuador President Lenin Moreno is believed to be visiting British officials to finalise the agreement.

A source close to the President’s office confirmed that Mr Moreno is near to agreeing a deal which could see Ecuador withdraw its asylum protection of the Wikileaks founder within the next several weeks.

The Ecuadorian President is in London this week to speak at the 2018 Global Disabilities Summit, but the Intercept claim this is just a cover to conceal his actual purpose of finalising a deal with Britain.

President Lenin Moreno (pictured) described Julian Assange as 'a stone in the shoe'

Britain in secret talks to evict Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (pictured at the Ecuadorian embassy in London)

It comes after reports of the UK being in secret talks with Ecuador to evict Mr Assange from its embassy in London.

Senior foreign officials, believed to include the Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan, were in talks to try and decide Mr Assange's future, according to The Sunday Times.

The 47-year-old has been living at the embassy in Knightsbridge, in London, since June 2012 and is fearful he will be extradited to the United States if he leaves.

President Lenin Moreno has previously called Mr Assange a 'hacker' and a 'stone in the shoe'.

Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan, pictured at the Western Balkans summit in July, is believed to be involved in the talks

Yet sources close to Mr Assange believe his political asylum cannot be revoked and that he was not aware of the high-level talks.

In a recent visit to Ecuador in late-June US Vice President Mike Pence raised the issue' of the Australian anti-secrecy activist.

Assange was given political asylum under Moreno's predecessor Rafael Correa, but it has been far from smooth sailing with the new administration.

Mr Assange's internet was cut off in March this year and restrictions were placed on who could visit him.

Julian Assange, pictured on the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy where he has been living for more than six years

President Moreno also ordered the removal of extra security at the embassy which has cost the country at least £3.7 million.

The operation - initially called 'Operation Guest' and later 'Operation Hotel' - ran up an average cost of at least $66,000 (£48,885) a month.

While in the embassy Mr Assange's physical and mental health is believed to have deteriorated.

Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan previously branded Mr Assange a 'miserable little worm' during a Commons debate in March, adding he should leave the Ecuadorean embassy and surrender to British justice.