So it was indeed a tie rod (the ball joints aren't rubber by the way!). As Cooperman said, what is the tie rod mounting at the front end like? Has it been boshed?
The fact that the top arms aren't touching the bumpstops means the cones haven't completely collapsed.
Is the car on the ground here? All I can really see from those photos is that both your dampers appear to be blown (the damp appearance around the telescopic joint tends to indicate leakage which means failure).
Dan, do you agree that there may be more than one issue here? There was the tyre hitting the body on lock and the apparent low suspension one side.
A heavy knock could have bent the tie-bar 'ear' back a bit and caused the knuckle cup to split. Or, just maybe, the front sub-frame is quite bent somewhere after a heavy knock.
It needs looking at by someone with sufficient experience of Mini suspension who knows what to check and measure. I don't want to sound patronising or unkind, but if the OP doesn't know what a bump stop or tie-rod is - and there is nothing to be ashamed about in lack of experience - he is unlikely to be able to sort this easily. Who lives in Birmingham who might take a look with a tape measure.
